Partners in Crime
by Jewelgirl04
Summary: He lives the life the dreams are made of. She wishes she could break free of the lies that have become her reality. Yet, a chance meeting between John Cena and Danielle Landon might just change everything.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

It was cold, there was snow on the ground, and there was snow falling from the sky. Yet, there was still something to be said for Boston in April and it was something that reminded John Cena that he was finally home again, even if it was just for a few days.

Yesterday had been one of the greatest days of his entire life. He had finally won the WWE Championship, a goal he'd worked towards for years and something he desired all of his life.

As he got out of the car to greet his family, John couldn't help but stare at the belt sitting in the passenger seat of his car. It was truly a work of beauty.

"Happy birthday, Danielle!"

"Girls!" the young blonde laughed at her roommates and smiled, taking notice of the birthday cake sitting on the table. "You really didn't have to… it's not like I hit any big milestone. I'm getting old…"

"Yeah, okay," one of her roommates, Kasey, rolled her eyes. "Because turning twenty two qualifies you for the senior discount at the movies."

Danielle Landon couldn't help but chuckle at her best friend's sarcasm. She'd known Kasey Walker for nearly eight years now and had first met the petite, auburn haired girl as a freshman in high school. If it wasn't for Kasey then, she wouldn't have survived high school. If it weren't for Kasey now, she might not survive life.

"At least I stand to graduate this year, _Julia_," she turned her gaze to her other good friend, Julia Dottrina.

"You know what? I didn't even say anything this time!" Julia put her hands firmly on her hips and pouted.

"Think of this as pay back for eleven years of sarcasm, Jules," Danielle smiled curtly at her childhood best friend. "And for my eighteenth birthday."

Julia had given her a blank photo album for that milestone birthday, for their next four years of college together. However, it wasn't until an hour later than Danielle's other present came: a male stripper.

"Well, you know… it was funny at the time. At least it was in my home and not your's."

"Yeah," Danielle's once-beaming face dropped noticeably. "Home."

* * *

John took his time walking up the driveway to his dad's house, taking in everything he missed about being in West Newbury. After realizing what he missed most about his hometown was in fact his family, Cena quickened his pace to the front door.

He rapped sharply on the screen door and was soon greeted by his father.

"Hey, champ," his dad mused. "Come on in."

John was immediately tackled onto the ground by his four brothers, Matt, Dan, Steve, and Sean, along with his cousin, Marc.

"Welcome home, superstar!" the man now known as Trademarc laughed from the top of the pile.

"Thanks, now you mind getting off of me? You're crushing the belt into my ribs."

"Ahh, right."

With that, each body was removed from the pile and John brushed himself off.

"Man, it's good to be home."

"Don't get too comfortable," Matt shook his head at his brother. "It might be too cold for Hampton Beach, but it's never too cold for Boston."

"Whose up for hitting Beantown?" Marc asked

The question received simultaneous nods from the Cena brothers.

"When do we ever turn down a good bar?"

* * *

"Oh, Dan, I'm sorry," Julia apologized. "I didn't mean to make you homesick."

"It's okay, Jules… you didn't mean it. I just wish I could spend this birthday back home. Here we are, on spring break, and my parents decide to go on a three week cruise. Last time I checked, my mom didn't even like boats. I guess retirement's paying off for Dad," she shrugged.

"You know what we haven't done in a long time?" Kasey offered. "Gone to a bar."

"That's exactly what I was thinking! 'Cause you know, the first thing Danielle does when she's upset is drink herself to the floor, Kase," after making a face at her roommate, Julia turned back to Danielle. "When was the last time you even had a drink?"

"Um… when I had kosher wine at Passover… five years ago, maybe."

"Case and point."

"Oh shut up, Julia. It's a change of scenery. We'll have fun dancing too. Who knows, maybe we'll meet some guys. Huh? Huh? What do you say?" Kasey wiggled an eyebrow.

To tell the truth, Danielle wasn't exactly looking for a man in her life at that moment. The last guy she'd given her heart to had crushed it nearly a year and a half later. For now, Danielle Landon was focused on graduating and living life her way.

Then again, she could use some fun.

"Sounds like I've got to change."

* * *

John's car pulled into the lot of Tonic somewhere around an hour later. He had no plans on getting plastered that particular night, still buzzing on his win at Wrestlemania the previous evening. A few Coors Lights would certainly hold him over for now.

The bitterness of Boston in the wintertime hit him like a steel chair, catching him completely off guard. For the first time in a while, he had actually opted to wear a pair of pants instead of shorts, yet managed to keep to his personal style with jeans and a Patriots jersey.

His brothers and cousin immediately ordered a round of shots at the bar and headed out to the dance floor.

"Yo, John! You comin'?" his little brother, Sean, aka Boog, called.

"Nah, man. I'll check you later."

John really wasn't much of a dancer, let alone a good one. It seemed as though the other four brothers had managed to get the dancing genes, while it had skipped him entirely. And while some white men could dance, John Cena was not one of them.

An hour had pretty much come and gone when John found himself becoming bored.

So far, a few fans had come over to congratulate him on his win and ask for a picture or autograph. It was never really an issue with him because loved signing autographs and meeting fans. In fact, he wished there were more of them to keep him occupied on an otherwise empty evening.

It was official now: tonight was boring. And while John did enjoy chilling with his family, other than the occasional passing shot at the bar, he really hadn't seen much of them.

What had he seen much of? Drunk girls making passes at him and by drunk girls, he didn't mean one too many beers, he meant about five too many shots of Jager. It was always flattering when a woman showed interest in him, but sometimes he wished she'd at least give him a shot while sober. If they happened to get drunk during the course of the night, well… that was a risk he'd most certainly be willing to take.

* * *

Within five minutes of arriving at the bar, Julia and Kasey had managed to vanish into the sea of bodies on the dance floor. Her best friends were entitled to have their fun too, but she just wished they hadn't deserted her on her birthday.

Danielle's eyes roamed up and down the bar, searching for an empty stool to occupy for a little while. Finally, a man left his seat at the middle of the counter and she rushed over, narrowly beating out another woman.

"Um… that was my seat, honey, so you might want to get off your ass and move," the moody, raven-haired, and slightly tattooed woman said sharply.

"It's just a seat, there will be plenty more."

"I'm glad you feel that way. Now you can move," she retorted.

"See, look," Danielle pointed a few seats down. "There's a chair over there, why don't you take that one and move on."

"I want this one. Now get off your ass and find another seat before I remove you from it."

"Believe me, hun," Danielle rose from her chair and stood 5'7" in her heels. She gently brushed off her jeans, smoothed down her midnight black sweater, and ground the heels of her black boots into the floor, before staring down the woman. "I am not the girl you want to mess with tonight."

"And you won't have to… as long as you give me my chair."

"Well," she turned around and expected the chair carefully," It doesn't appear as though you're name is tattooed on it… but from the looks of you, honey, it seems like more than a few of your ex-boyfriends managed to tattoo their own names on you. I'm sure it'll be no time before you find another name to ink on your body here, as well, so why don't you save yourself the awkward morning tomorrow and go find him before you get too drunk to move tonight."

The woman scowled noticeably and turned on her stiletto heels, brushing past Danielle as she went.

"What a night," she mused, steadying herself back on the bar stool. After signaling the bartender, she ordered a diet coke, which never seemed to arrive.

* * *

John couldn't help but stare at the confrontation going on over the chair beside him. This one young woman had just walked over to sit down and most likely order a drink when another woman, who clearly recognized him, waltzed over and gave her an attitude for no apparent reason.

Under normal circumstances, he would have intervened on the behalf of a fan, but this lady was being absurdly rude and was certainly not worth it. In the meantime, he'd keep his mouth shut and silently root for the blonde.

A few minutes later, the scene was over and the blonde woman sat down beside him to order a soda for herself. She seemed to have a little spitfire in her, which he found incredibly sexy in women. Not to mention, she was most certainly sober…

"You know," John began, "What you said to that girl before was classic."

"I'm glad you enjoyed that. I grew up with people like her. They just need someone to tell them off every now and then. You know, send them back into their place. And if that doesn't work? You can always knock some sense into them," she laughed.

"Well said, well said," John nodded in agreement. "From the way you speak… you're definitely not from Boston, huh?"

"Not originally, no. I've been living here the past four years though. I'll give you ten points if you can tell where I'm from…" she smiled.

John was definitely beginning to like this girl. She was sweet and had a killer smile, but could certainly take care of herself, everything he liked in a woman.

After a moment of deep though he answered, "New Jersey."

"Good guess. Yeah, I'm a Jersey girl, but I was born in the BK. That's…"

"Brooklyn," he finished for her.

"Yep, Brooklyn. I go back there to visit relatives every now and then, but Jersey's my real home. I could see myself living here permanently, but I was homesick, especially today," the woman answered.

He knew all about being homesick. It was what he felt most days that he was on the road, but he knew that he was living his childhood dream and that his family supported him. After all, Johnny Fabulous was his father and wrestling was in his blood. He was fortunate to have a family that cared about him and believed in him and he had no idea what he'd do without them.

Yet, he really felt for this young woman. The look in her hazel eyes clearly gave her away: she missed her family. Boston was a good six hours away from New Jersey, at the least, which probably made travel extremely difficult. He was lucky enough to be able to afford plane rides home whenever he really needed to come home or when he got a short break, usually once a year. Not everyone had the luxury to come and go as they pleased.

"May I ask why?"

"I guess so," she shrugged. "It's not like it's some gigantic secret or anything. Today's actually my birthday."

"Well, happy birthday… um, I'm sorry. Ha. I don't even know your name," John laughed.

"I'm Danielle… Danielle Landon. Nice to meet you," she extended a hand.

John shook it and smiled, "Nice to meet you, Danielle, and happy birthday. My name's…"

"John Cena. I knew that already."

"Really?" he asked in surprise. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Let me tell you something, I've been watching wrestling since I was five, much to the disapproval of my mother, and you know what I figured out after all this time? You're all just regular guys with a passion for what you do. Don't get me wrong, you guys deserve all the success you achieve, but at the end of the day, you deserve to be just treated as a normal person, just the same."

"I like the way you think, Danielle Landon."

"Thank you, John Cena," she answered sarcastically. "And by the way, congratulations on your title."

There was no way that he saw that one coming. Very few girls that watched wrestling didn't out right say it when they met him. Danielle was probably the first and quite possibly the last, but that was just fine with him.

"Thanks. You watched?"

"Of course, I did! Everyone at the gym watches, Cena. **Everyone**," Danielle stated as though she were shocked at his surprise.

"The gym?" he arched an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, right. Obviously you don't know this… why would you?" she shook her head at her forgetfulness. "I train at a wrestling gym in Malden."

AND she's a wrestler? John found himself wondering just how much better she could get.

"That's pretty cool. Kowalski's gym?" he asked, to which she nodded. "How did you wind up there? That's a pretty exclusive training ground."

"Well, let's just say that it's dangerously close to where I live."

"Sounds good to me. I've been there one or two times in the late afternoon, but usually during the fall. Maybe I'll teach you some new moves sometime, birthday girl," John offered flirtatiously.

"I don't know, Mr. Cena… I've got some pretty good moves of my own," Danielle countered. "I've been training for a little over three years now, pretty much from as soon as I moved here."

"It's not very often that I meet a girl who enjoys wrestling, but even less often that I meet a girl who enjoys being a part of wrestling. Honestly, I give credit to the WWE Divas from the Diva Searches and the girls who are models, but I like having Divas that can roll with the punches. I idolized Hulk Hogan growing up, you know?" he quickly found himself reveling in the memory of tagging with some of his idols in his time on Smackdown and beaming to himself. "Seeing immortal legends like him is what gets guys into wrestling. Who do girls get to see to inspire them?"

"Seeing that I'm qualified to speak on that level, I can't really say that as a little kid I saw any females that really caught my attention. I mean, I was a fan of the same guys, but there really weren't any strong females out there yet. I basically wanted to be a girl that could take on the guys. I mean today, there's Lita, who's just unbelievable. She's off the top rope, but can power her way through a match, as well."

"I know what you're saying. She's on RAW, though, so I don't get to see her in action that much, but from what I've seen… rather impressive. Anyway, let's not talk about business right now. How about I buy the birthday girl a drink?" John suggested.

"Oh I don't drink."

John began to let thoughts race through his head. Is she even eighteen? Maybe she's just not twenty one yet…

"Oh, you're not twenty one? Are you at least eighteen?"

"Uhh…"

He immediately caught on to how bad that sounded and laughed nervously, "That's not what I meant…"

"No, I gotcha. I am older than twenty one, I'm twenty two, actually and a student in Boston. That's not the reason I don't drink," she stammered as she blushed. "I'm straightedge, actually."

"Hey, don't be embarrassed. That's cool… you're just being yourself," he assured her. "Can I at least get you a soda or something?"

"Eh… not really in the mood for it anymore, but thank you. I'm starting to get fed up with this whole scene right about now…"

"Same thing here," John began to empathize when an idea hit him. "Hey, it's kind of cold out. Do you drink coffee?"

"I'm a college student, John, do you really have to ask that?"

"Point taken," he conceded. "My brothers and cousin are pretty much in their own world, right now, on the dance floor. There's a café down the street, do you want to go have a cup over there?"

"My roommates are probably doing the same, too. Sure, why not?" she replied.

It didn't take Danielle very long to say yes. After all, he was a nice enough guy and had been nothing but respectful in the past hour or so they'd been talking for. Plus, she could learn a lot from a guy like him and John would definitely be able to give her valuable advice on the business. Not to mention, he'd be a good friend to talk to.

John was rather impressed by this young woman right off the bat. She had the right attitude about life and he could only imagine how she dealt with school and training at the same time. Danielle was original and unique in both the way she lived her life and the way she treated others. There was something about her that made him at ease and for the first time in a while, John Cena found comfort in knowing that although he had the WWE Championship in his possession, and his road there had been difficult, life was sure to get better soon. More importantly, he was glad Danielle had agreed to go out for coffee because he wasn't ready for the night to end. Not yet, anyway.

"Did you bring a jacket?" he asked. "It's freezing outside…"

"Yes," she nodded. "It's in the back of my friend's car. I have a set of keys in case I need to use the car, so I can just grab it and we can go."

"Do you want me to pull my car in front and meet you there…?"

"Actually, I know this sounds insane, but could we walk there?" she asked, biting her lip. "There's something to be said for Boston in April, especially during snowfall."

John stared at her blankly for a few moments, trying to wrap his head around the fact that she had mentioned something that he had never said to anyone else before. It was nothing she could have possibly heard anywhere else, so she must have felt the same way. Suddenly, he began to question if meeting her wasn't any random coincidence.

"Um… Earth to John Cena…John. John," she called to him, trying to knock him from his reverie. "Look, it's JBL!" she shouted suddenly.

"What?" he quickly snapped back to reality. "Where?"

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "It was the only way to grab your attention."

John had to admit that she was getting good at doing just that.

"What was the question again?"

"Do you mind if we walk? There's something to be said about Boston in April, especially during snowfall."

He quickly found himself beaming in her presence.

"I don't mind. I've got to warn you, thought, that I live in Tampa now, so I'm not as conditioned to the snow as I used to be," John laughed.

"I've officially been warned. You might want to grab your jacket then, too. The last thing I need on my conscience is to know that I gave the reigning WWE Champ pneumonia," she smiled and ran her fingers through her golden blonde hair. "I'll meet you out front, Mr. Cena. Don't stand me up."

John closed his eyes and shook his head vehemently, "I wouldn't dream of it."

* * *

**A/N:** **Please let me know what you think about this story. I'd really like some feedback. In this chapter it's pretty dialogue-driven, however it's not going to be like this in the upcoming chapters. I promise. :-)**


	2. Chapter 2

The chill of the night nipped at Danielle's nose as she stood outside, in front of the bar, waiting for John to arrive. Her snow-dusted black knit cap was firmly on her head and her black pea coat seemed to be the only thing protecting her body from freezing.

It had been nearly fifteen minutes since she'd left her car and she hadn't expected to be waiting for John this long, let alone waiting at all. Then again, Danielle didn't exactly expect to bump into John Cena tonight. She'd watched him for a while now and he had become one of her favorite wrestlers to watch; highly athletic and powerful, with the capability to verbally destroy his rivals. Maybe her birthday wasn't turning out so badly after all.

"Sorry I'm late," John apologized as he jogged towards her.

"I was beginning to think you had stood me up," she responded honestly.

"I wouldn't do that, especially not to young woman like yourself," he smirked. "I had to give my bros the heads up that I was leaving. I couldn't just hang them out to dry, so I gave Sean the keys. He's the only one who hasn't been drinking tonight."

"So how are you planning on getting home then?" Danielle asked suspiciously.

"A cab. It wouldn't be the first time I have taken one, that's for sure. Honestly, I don't mind at all," John shrugged. "So you all set?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Where exactly is this café?"

"About four blocks from here."

"Ha. That's nothing," she laughed as they began walking. "I take walks around here every morning… rain or snow."

"Wrestlers are all about dedication, Danielle," John stated simply.

"I understand that and it's precisely why it doesn't bother me so much. I work through the type of pain that people could never deal with. I tore my ACL when I was 16 and I never thought I'd be able to play sports again, period. Do you know how hard it was to come back from that?"

John quickly thought back to his days at Springfield College.

"I was fortunate enough to escape injury in my four years of college ball and while I can't relate first hand, there were many of my guys that went down to similar injuries. Most of them weren't really the same after that," John nodded. "How did you tear it in the first place?"

"My sophomore year, I was on the varsity soccer team as the starting goalie. We were playing our rival school and I jumped to grab the ball, which was inches from the crossbar. Luckily, I tipped the ball over the back of the net, but I came down and twisted my knee slightly. The stubborn person that I was, I decided to play through the injury, seeing as the team needed me. A few minutes later, one of their forwards rammed me into the goal post, knee first, on a corner kick. I felt a pop and that was it," Danielle closed her eyes and shook her head. "In one second, my season was over."

"I'm sorry," he replied. "I know it doesn't mean much."

"No, I appreciate it," she smiled weakly. "I rehabbed like mad and got to where I wanted to be, but by the time I was back to normal, my athletic career was over. I had missed all opportunities to play in college and would have to wait until the end of my freshman year to even consider trying to appeal for a spot," she spoke softly as she stared down at her footprints in the snow. "It tore me apart inside."

Surprisingly, John felt a twinge of pain for her. He knew how much he loved what he did and he couldn't bear to think about what would happen if it was all taken away.

"So then, why Boston?" he asked curiously.

"When I fell out of sports, the debate team was something that kind of dropped into my lap at the right time. Everything about it fascinated me – the passion, the intellect, the hard-work it required. The competitive nature of it all didn't exactly hurt, either," Danielle chuckled slightly at the thought. "Somewhere along the line, I fell in love with it all and found myself moving towards a career dealing with political science. From there, I pretty much worked my ass of in school to get where I wanted to be."

"But how did you wind up here?"

"Truthfully?" she asked, to which he nodded affirmatively. "You're going to think I'm crazy," she shook her head and smiled in embarrassment, kicking some snow with her boots.

"Try me," John challenged her.

"It was the only shot I really had to do what I loved… and that was wrestling."

"That's not crazy, Danielle."

"Oh yeah? Is this crazy?" she arched an eyebrow at him and pasted on her best Cheshire cat grin before picking up a clump of snow from the freshly coated sidewalk.

"Don't even think about it," John held up his hands and warned her.

"Of course, I'm not going to think about it," she shook her head and launched the snow at his grey, hooded sweatshirt. "I'm just going to do it."

He looked at her, looked down at the spot on his sweatshirt, and picked up his own snowball. "Oh… hell no."

Danielle ran and ducked behind a light post as John fired his shot at her, which exploded on the base of the streetlight. When he went for the next bit of snow, she began to run down the street.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" he called after her as he began a full sprint after towards her down the street.

"Come and get me!" Danielle turned and yelled back.

He knew that she was a former soccer star and a wrestler-in-training, but he had underestimated her. She was quick and agile, even after going through ACL reconstruction surgery, which further impressed him.

Danielle began to slow down as she approached the open café and reached a complete stop right at the storefront. However, John had sped up and was quickly gaining on her. Soon, he had fully reached her and wrapped his arms around her body.

"Gotcha!" he yelled in triumph, as he lifted her in the air, leading her to kick her feet aimlessly.

"Oh no you don't!" she fought back through gritted teeth and crouched down, before lifting John off the ground on her back.

Taken by surprise, he slid down into a pile of snow, which gave her the opportunity to dash inside. Noticing where she'd disappeared to, John stood up, dusted the snow off his sweatshirt and jeans, before heading inside to find her.

"I see you managed to dust yourself off," a voice called to him from the far off corner of the room.

John turned in the direction of the voice to find Danielle seated at a table, with her head propped up on her still-gloved hands.

"Bet you didn't expect that one, huh?" she gloated as he began making his way towards her.

"Not really," he admitted, turning the chair opposite her around and sitting down in it.

The waitress quickly greeted them, took their orders, and left the table in a matter of minutes, as they got back to conversation.

"How long have you been able to do that?" John asked, his curiosity getting the best of him.

"Probably somewhere north of two years now," Danielle shrugged nonchalantly. "The first wrestler I ever lifted was a woman about 130 pounds, which is nothing. After a year, I pretty much found myself able to lift the guys. One of the trainers suggested I get involved in a match to set up a manager-like role with another wrestler. I would up hurricarana-ing a guy who weighed close to 240 pounds."

"But how did you manage to pick me up on your back? A hurricarana is all about leg strength and timing… that's completely different."

"Cena, if you only knew some of the stuff I can do in the ring," she stared at him confidently.

"I'd like to see that sometime," he answered seriously. "I'm home for the week. The Smackdown taping tomorrow night is in Boston and the house shows are pretty much in the area for the week, too. At max, they're going to be an hour away from Boston. That's it. You know, I've gotta work out before the matches tomorrow… maybe I'll stop by the gym and see what you've got."

"You know, Mr. Cena, you might have just asked for more trouble than you bargained for."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take."

There was something about this girl that was getting to him. Sure, he was sarcastic and sometimes brash, but she was bringing out something in him that he hadn't felt for years with any girl. He could just be himself around her. She didn't judge him and she didn't want anything from him. They just shared a common bond at the moment: wrestling. It wasn't just his life, it was hers too.

"So, Danielle," he addressed her as the waitress delivered their coffee mugs, "You told me you came out here to do what you loved and wrestle. Why couldn't you wrestle in your home state?"

"Wow. That's a good question," Danielle relented as she stared thoughtfully at her coffee mug, tracing a circle around its edge. "I used to sneak into my older brother's room late at night to watch wrestling. It wasn't so much because it was past my bedtime, but rather because wrestling wasn't really something my mom approved of."

"My mom wasn't too thrilled with it either," he mused, recalling the times she'd watch him and his brothers beating the crap out of each other on the lawn, while yelling at them to get back inside the house. "But it was in my blood and there wasn't much she could do about it."

"I wish my mom felt the same way," she sighed and looked back up from her coffee cup. "I used to tell her that I hated wrestling and that I thought it was barbaric because that's the way she felt. My dad would take my brother to shows and tapings, but I didn't go and it killed me. He had all these awesome shirts and posters, but I couldn't have any. I had to keep up the lie that I'd built up," shaking her head in disgust, she continued, "You know? Seventeen years of watching wrestling and I've never owned a single piece of memorabilia, let alone a shirt. Even now, when I'm on my own."

"That's a hard life to live, Danielle," John sympathized with her.

He found himself wondering how such an amazing girl could be forced to live such an extensive lie?

"It really is. When my brother moved out and got his own place, I had to watch every show in my room. I'd change the channel quickly if she walked in back then, but once I hit high school, I wised up and plugged my headphones into the television. After a while, I stopped using the headphones and wanted her to catch me, but I would basically just chicken out at the end."

"So that's why you came this far to wrestle?" John asked, intrigued by her dedication.

"Yeah… because I knew that I could train and stay in school away from home. I could never do it back in Jersey." She reached for her mug, drew a long sip of the hot liquid as it warmed her hands, and returned to conversation. "Never."

"How are you staying on your feet, though?" he delved a little deeper and then was quickly overcome by a feeling of regret. "I'm sorry… I'm getting too personal, aren't I?"

"Don't worry about it, John," Danielle shook her head at him furiously. "I don't mind. If anything, it helps. You're the first person that really understands."

It was certainly true. When he graduated college, he moved to California with five hundred dollars to his name and slept in his car while training at a wrestling gym. If anyone understood, it was him.

"I'm glad I can help," he answered truthfully.

"But to answer your question… I had a lot of money saved up from working during the school year. I started at a summer camp and then went on to work at an ice cream store for two years after that. Unfortunately, it led to a weight gain and I wasn't exactly skinny before that. I took care of that during training. The only reason I didn't blow right through that money was because I got an academic scholarship to BU right out of high school. I got a 1490 on my SAT's and they were pretty much willing to let me go on a free ride. My "tuition savings" basically went towards training and a car," she laughed.

"All that intelligence and all you want to do is lose brain cells as a wrestler?" John joked.

"You're sounding more and more like my mother."

"How'd she take it when you told her you had enrolled in a wrestling school?"

"Umm…" she began to fidget awkwardly in her chair. "She didn't. Mom still doesn't know about it. My dad doesn't know either… even though he does know I watch wrestling. I told him when I was seventeen and he agreed it was best not to break the news to Mom any time soon. My brother, on the other hand, married this lovely woman about ten years ago and they, along with my nephew, are pretty much the only other people that know. Her stepfather, in fact, used to train with Scotty 2 Hottie and Tazz way back when he was a wrestler. I watched some of his tapes, they were pretty good. He and his wife know too… after all, he's been helping me out with my power moves a lot."

"What happens if you make it to the WWE?" John asked as the waitress left the check on the table.

"You mean… when I make it to the WWE?" she corrected him. "I don't know. I've got to get there first. I've seen many people I train with give up their dream, but that's not me. Either I make it… or they'll have to toss me out of the gym to get rid of me. Even then, I might show up. They have scouting down here every three years or so. Last time around, I was too green for them to look at, so some other guys got my spot. This year, they're coming back… in a few weeks… and I'm ready for them. I've just got to keep myself healthy and on track."

"Danielle, you're going to do just fine. I've got faith in you," John smiled reassuringly as he took a swig of coffee.

"But you barely know me…" she trailed off.

"I seem to know you better than most people do," he pressed his lips together and shrugged. "I live the same type of life that you do and I know how hard it is to get where you want to be. I scratched and clawed my way up the ladder to get where I wanted to be. I was in OVW for a year to perfect my game, but you're already being trained by the Killer himself. You're way ahead of most guys in the business. If they like you, which they will, you'll be up in no time."

"I hope so," Danielle concluded and then caught the clock. "I think I'm going to hit the gym early tomorrow morning, so maybe it's best to call it a night, as much as I hate to."

"That sucks," John exhaled deeply as he left money on the table and stood up.

"But when we're chilling out together in the WWE, it'll be worth it," she smirked at him.

"True, very true," he said as he pushed open the door for her.

"Thanks, John," she grinned at him and looked around the deserted street. "I don't think that there are any cabs around. How are you getting home?"

"You know… that's a good question."

Fumbling through his pockets, he managed to come across his cell phone and dialed his cousin. Marc picked up a few moments later.

"Yo? Where are you guys?" John asked him over the speaker phone.

"Home. Where are you?" his voice, slightly slurred, asked.

"Stranded," he rolled his eyes. "I'll catch you later."

After hanging up abruptly, he began to walk the way from which he came.

"Where do you think you're going?" Danielle called after him. "You're just going to leave me alone here? Way to be my knight in shining armor."

Damn. Strike one against him.

"I was going to try to walk back to Tonic and call a cab," he called back to her.

He heard footsteps running behind him and turned around to find Danielle standing in front of him.

"I can give you a ride. I took the keys remember?" she reminded him, dangling her keys in the air. "I would never leave my friends, drunk, and with their car keys," she tilted her head at him.

"You would do that for me? I live forty minutes away from here. I thought you had an early morning tomorrow…"

"Well, now you do too. I expect to see you at 7am sharp," she smiled.

"Done," he agreed with a poignant nod.

She slung an arm around his shoulders, six inches above her head, and laughed.

"Come on, Cena, let's get you home."

* * *

The snowfall had turned into more of a flurry by the time they arrived at her 2000 Honda Civic, which she had bought back in 2001, after it had been repossessed by the dealership. She unlocked the doors, opened the driver's side door, and immediately turned on the heat.

Looking over at John, she mused, "You can open the door anytime you like."

"Yeah… right," he chuckled, opened the door, and slid into the car.

"I know my way around Boston and the freeway no problem," Danielle began to speak as she twisted the keys in the ignition, "But once we get to West Newbury, you're going to have to give me directions."

"No problem…have you ever been there before?" he inquired, continuing the conversation.

"I think I stopped in town for gas once and the gas station didn't have any at all. Thank God, my tank lasted until the next town over," she laughed.

"You know? That doesn't surprise me at all."

About forty minutes later, they had pulled off the freeway and were navigating the streets of West Newbury, Massachusetts. The roads were still slick from being freshly coated in snow earlier that night, but a little slow driving would take care of any risk there was.

"Make a left up here… my dad's house is the second on the right," John instructed her.

After turning into the driveway, Danielle put the car in park and turned to the passenger's side of the Civic, "So I guess we're here, huh?"

"Yep… Fabo's house," he nodded.

"I'd walk you to the door, but that's your job," she winked at him as he got out of the car and walked around to her side, after which she rolled down her window in compliance.

"Next time, next time," he laughed at her flirtation. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Count on it. Seven 'o clock, sharp," Danielle nodded once.

John went to walk inside when she stopped him, "Wait a minute," she halted him, reaching for her glove compartment and pulling out a pen. "Here's my number… just in case."

She knew it was a stupid excuse to give him her number, and she'd secretly bang her head against the wall later because of it, but Danielle wanted him to have it anyway.

After writing down her cell number on his hand in blue ink, John smiled genuinely at her. "Thanks. I'm putting it into my cell as soon as I get inside the house."

"You don't have to tell me that to make me feel like you're going to do it, John."

"I wouldn't just tell you anything for the sake of it. I really am going to do that," he assured her. "Promise."

"Thanks," she blushed uncharacteristically. "I appreciate it."

"You're a cool girl. Why wouldn't I want to talk to you…? I'm gonna want to know how you're doing in school and how you're doing in training."

"John, you can call me anytime," she nodded.

Another thing she'd bang her head against the wall for later.

_Way to act desperate, Danielle,_ she thought to herself. _Nice one._

"It's going to be good to have a friend back home to check up on. Too many people are checking up on me… it's going to be nice to return the favor to someone else," he grinned smugly.

"Um… thanks," she shook her head in laughter.

"I'll catch you tomorrow morning. Goodnight," John told her as he turned to walk back into the house.

Danielle let out a heavy sigh as she rolled up her window and put the car in reverse, however a brief knock on her window stopped her. It was John.

She rolled down her window, "Yes?"

"I forgot to tell you something," he responded.

"What'd you forget?" she asked as she cocked her head to the side.

John leaned in slowly and pressed his lips to her cheek.

"Happy birthday, Danielle," he smiled into her skin, before retreating back up the driveway, leaving Danielle's mind on repeat.

What the hell had just happened?

**A/N: Please review everyone! I really want to know what you think! And thank you for the many subscribers to my story alert list! I 3 you guys!**


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Partners in Crime  
Rating: PG-13  
Pairing/Character(s): John Cena/OC (Many WWE Superstars will make frequent appearances throughout the story)  
Summary: Danielle proves to John exactly what she's all about and tells her friend, Julia, who the guy she met at the bar really is.  
Warnings: WWE Story Lines  
Length: Long  
Word Count: 4002  
Chapter #: (3/?)  
WIP or Complete: Work In Progress  
Author's Note: Here's another update, but please read and review! With school starting, updates should come every 5-7 days, so stay tuned!!!

Danielle's mind was still reeling as she soundlessly entered the apartment that she resided in with her two best friends. Right now, though, Julia and Kasey were the furthest thoughts from her mind.

Her feet barely grazed the Maplewood floors as she breezed past both occupied bedrooms into her own, before shutting the door behind her with a light click.

In fact, she barely even noticed that her feet carried her to her light blue bed on the opposite side of her room. Looking up from her feet, she caught sight of all the wrestling posters in her room.

Exchanging glances with Hulk Hogan, The Rock, and Shawn Michaels, Danielle stood back on her soles and headed towards her vanity mirror. Her eyes darted to the poster beside it of John Cena and then back to her reflection in the mirror.

Slowly, she raised her hand to her cheek and touched the spot his lips had grazed.

Maybe she was crazy, but it still felt warm from his breath.

"Finally…the man of the hour's home!" Marc called from the downstairs couch as John made his way through the door. "We thought you'd have been home by now, Champ. Why'd you leave?"

"Wasn't my scene tonight, man," he shook his head nonchalantly.

"That's not it," Sean interred, looking rather smugly at his older brother. "Not at all. Check out the look on his face."

Marc studied his cousin's face in detail and then exchanged a knowing glance with Sean.

"Boog, you right. Something's different…"

Sean smirked again, "I know."

"Nah, man, nothing's different," John assured him, shaking off his brother's remarks.

"Dude," Sean's eyes lit up as the thought crossed his mind. "Either you got laid…"

"Boog, you're out of your mind," he waved off his little brother.

"… or you met a girl," he finished.

John's head shot up instantaneously and he could feel the smile creeping across his face.

"That's it!" Boog stood up sharply. "You met a girl?"

"Alright," John conceded and rubbed his jaw. "I met a girl tonight."

"Yo!" Marc rose from the couch and rubbed his cousin's head jokingly. "What's she like?"

"Well, for starters, she's goes to BU, but she turned twenty two tonight. It was her birthday," he began to recall the details of Danielle's life.

"I'm sure you gave her some birthday present," Dan wiggled his eyebrows as he entered the room from the kitchen.

"It wasn't like that. She was really chill, man. We left the bar because we didn't like it there… she doesn't drink or anything like that, actually."

"Doesn't drink?" Dan's eyes widened. "That's possible?"

"Yeah, bro," John couldn't help but laugh at his comment. "It's possible. We walked to the café a few blocks down and grabbed some coffee. We got to know each other there… pretty well, in fact."

"What's her name?" Marc asked curiously.

"Danielle… Danielle Landon."

"That's a sweet name," Sean nodded.

"Good stage name, too," Marc added.

"That's not even the best part, man. She's intelligent and got into Boston U free because her S.A.T. scores were ridiculously high. She moved out here to put some space between her and her parents for a little while so she could do what she loves. Because her scholarships, she had a lot of money saved up for tuition, so she spent it on a car for up here and on something she'd dreamed of doing." "

"Pretty sweet deal," Sean agreed.

"Not even the best part by far. Get this, guys…" John nodded smugly, catching his family's attention. "She's been training for three years at Kowalski's to be a wrestler."

"That's pretty kick ass," Marc acknowledged.

"Who's been training for three years at Kowalski's to be a wrestler?" a voice interrupted their conversation.

Turning around, the boys found that John Sr., aka Johnny Fabulous, had made his way into the room.

"This girl John met tonight," Sean responded as if it were nothing.

"A girl at Kowalski's?" John Sr. tilted his head back a little bit in surprise. "Right now, there's only five girls down there training. I've seen all of them."

"Tell Dad her name, John," Dan urged him. "See if she's for real."

"I know she's for real, Dan," John spat back defensively. "I'm not an idiot… wrestling's my profession, I think I'd be able to tell if she was lying. Plus, I'm going to work out there tomorrow and check this girl out for myself."

"Son, I'll tell you if you're wasting your time or not. There's only one girl right now really worth seeing. What's her name?"

"Danielle," John complied. "Danielle Landon."

"John, no one in Boston's heard of a Danielle Landon before," his father answered.

"Dude, I told you!" Dan grinned smugly.

"But," John Sr. interrupted his son with a look, "Everyone's heard of 'The Rebel.'"

"The Rebel?" the four boys responded in unison.

"Let me tell you something, John. She's better than most of the guys down there," he assured his son, sounding impressed already. "You're in for a surprise tomorrow, son."

The entire morning's work out was spent trying to re-gain her focus. Last night hadn't completely left her mind and she was still paying for it hours later, yet it was only 6:30. Finally, one of her trainers, Dave, told her to head to the ring.

"Which match am I up for?" Danielle asked nonchalantly.

"With the big scouts coming down in a few weeks, we figured we'd help you step up your game. Remember the match we worked last week with you, Amanda, James, and Brent?"

Of course she did. It was a tough match to compete in and she'd find herself exchanging much more than words with Brent, after James gets knocked out cold. Basically, she was going to be responsible for carrying the match, as Amanda was going to find herself incapacitated as well.

"Yeah, 'course I do."

"Good," Brian put a hand on her shoulder. "You're up in five."

Danielle sighed. He wouldn't be there for another half hour.

"Hey, Walter," John smiled as he shook the massive hand of WWE Legend, Walter "Killer" Kowalski. "How've you been?"

"Good, good, son," the elder man smiled and glanced at the title belt. "I see you've been doing even better. How does it feel to be on top?"

"Awesome. It's a dream come true."

"As it should be," Kowalski nodded, recalling his own glory days. "So what brings you to Malden this morning?"

"I actually heard some good things from my dad about one of your wrestlers and I thought I'd come down and see for myself," he admitted.

"Who are you here to see?" the grizzled man asked curiously.

"Danielle Landon," John responded.

"Oh! You mean 'The Rebel?'" John nodded and he continued, "Well then, son…" Kowalski patted him once, firmly on the shoulder. "Prepare for a good show."

"Looking forward to it."

"Come take a seat over here with me," Kowalski gestured to a chair right smack in front of the ring. "Best seats in the house."

_It's a quarter to seven,_ she thought to herself. _Damn, I wish he could have been here for this._

The first two people to enter the ring were a woman with bright, strawberry blonde hair, about five foot eight, and her boyfriend, a tall, muscular man with black hair and many tattoos.

"The girl… is simply known as Amanda," Kowalski whispered to John, presumably not to draw attention to his presence. "She's been here for about six years now, since she turned eighteen. She's come a long way, but still not Women's Champ caliber. OVW could turn her around, though. The other guy," he pointed to the spiky haired guy in the ring, "Is Brent Matthews. Brent's got the talent, but not the heart. He's all about the glory and not about the fight. The kid's a monster, but he's got to get some common sense."

A few minutes later, John watched Danielle make her way to the ring with a young man in his late twenties with long, platinum blonde hair.

"That's James Rutherford," he continued. "He's a good kid, but not really an upper-card quality talent yet. Been here four years and could probably use another two more."

John merely nodded.

"And that woman over there," Kowalski grinned proudly, "Is who you came to see. That's 'The Rebel.' She's the best female wrestler I've ever seen and one of the best we've ever trained. She's an animal in the ring and has got a drive that I wish all wrestlers had. She was born to do this. Too bad her folks'll never see her here," he sighed. "Although, come to think about it, her brother, Mike, and sister-in-law, Rachel, stop by every now and then, as does Rachel's step dad, Tom. Tom trained with Scotty 2 Hottie and Tazz during his days in wrestling. He's played a big part in Danielle's success here."

The bell sounded for the intergender match and the battle began with the two ladies locking up in the ring. Amanda quickly elbowed Danielle in the ribs and began to work on her back with a few knees to the back. However, she was quickly taken down forcefully with a side-Russian leg sweep.

Danielle tossed Amanda into the ropes and hit her with a vicious clothesline that caused her to flip into the air and land hard on the mat. Noticing an opportunity, Danielle quickly hit the top rope and landed an impressive Corkscrew 450 splash, a move that only Jeff Hardy had completed successfully on RAW in the late nineties.

"Wow," John spoke in shock.

"She's just getting started."

The move took a lot out of her and both women crawled to the other side of the mat to get to her respective partner.

A few minutes later, though, Amanda tried to intervene in the match and Danielle found herself back in the ring, as Amanda distracted the ref. Seizing an opportunity, Brent tried to spear her, but before he could, James pushed her away to take the hit, finding himself getting knocked out cold against the turn buckle in their corner.

Danielle slapped James's back, to make it seem as though she'd tagged in, and pushed him on the other side of the ropes. Brent, however, refused to allow Amanda to tag back in and wanted to take care of Danielle himself.

She refused to back down from a challenge and found herself mismatched in a stare down with the 6'7" monster of a man before her. Brent shoved her into the other corner of the ring and began to mock her facing his girlfriend. This hindered him in the match, as Danielle dropkicked him right into Amanda, knocking her out to the floor, leaving only the two of them capable of fighting.

He ran at Danielle in an attempt to clothesline her, but she ducked and speared him to the ground instead. Now the match was going her way!

She began with a split-legged moonsault and landed with her legs wrapped around Brent's neck, taking him down with a modified hurricarana.

Kowalski offered his ten cents, "She calls that the Whirlwind. Here comes the Grinder."

When Brent stood up, she backflipped twice and on the third time she knocked him into the ropes, landing a superkick on him. The monster had fallen hard.

Her last signature move was coming up next, but as Walter Kowalski had told Cena, "This one has yet to be named."

Danielle grabbed a hold of the top rope and balanced on it like it were a gymnastics bar. After holding a handstand position, she switched her grip and rocketed feet first through the ropes to connect with Brent's body, but he had stepped aside to catch her and drop her into a spinebuster.

To finish her off, Brent went to hit Danielle with a chokeslam, but she elbowed him in the head and managed to release herself from his grip.

"Watch carefully, son," Kowalski urged him, "I bet you've never seen this before."

Danielle looked around and lifted the easily 270-pound man on her back and hit a fireman's carry powerslam on him.

"Holy shit," Cena whispered in disbelief. "That's my move."

"But I bet you never saw a girl do it."

This took a lot out of her and she had to crawl over to Brent's body to cover him up.

The referee counted the pin and Danielle raised her hands victoriously in the air.

"Very nice, Ms. Landon!" Kowalski called to her from ringside. "Nice finish, indeed. How's the knee?"

"Not bad, actually. She feels pretty good," Danielle admitted, smiling brightly.

"Well, I'm sure you will impress the scouts in the coming weeks," he praised her. "You've already seemed to have impressed my guest over here."

Turning her gaze to her right, she noticed John Cena standing a few feet away from Kowalski.

"John Cena, I'll be damned," she breathed heavily, trying to regain her composure after her tough match. "Nice to see you again."

"Didn't think I'd show, huh?"

"No, I just didn't think you'd get here in time to see this," she grinned sheepishly.

"I saw the whole thing… that was my F-U. That was insane!" John yelled intensely.

Danielle climbed out of the ring, a grin still plastered on her face, "I'm glad you liked it."

"I'm telling you, Walter, they're going to want her up right away. No OVW time, no nothing. They're going to want her now."

"I know," he nodded. "We're going to miss her down here when she's out being a star in the WWE."

She was very proud of her in-ring abilities and enjoyed all the praise she received, however she knew that a jinx was a jinx. That smile on her face was quickly washed away by the returning thoughts of her failed high school athletic career. Yes, it was certainly better avoid disappointment.

A few minutes later, about ten other wrestlers gathered around the ring, signaling that John wouldn't be working out much this morning and would most likely be running an impromptu clinic at the gym.

"So as you all know," Kowalski raised his voice slightly, "This is the current WWE Champion, John Cena. Mr. Cena was nice enough to take time out of his schedule to come down here and get in the ring with you guys. Bring you're A-game, ladies… or don't bring anything at all."

"Thanks for the intro, man," Cena began, sliding his title belt over his arm muscles, glistening in the heat of the gym, and resting it onto his shoulder. "What's goin' on guys?" he asked casually.

The response was a bunch of nods and grumbles.

"Good, good. Alright… brief intro of my own…" he continued. "I'm John Cena and I hope you all are as pumped as I am for this morning. I'll be in the ring with all of you today and uh… stay safe and keep it clean. Feel free to ask questions, whatever you'd like. That's pretty much it, so let's get the show on the road."

Amanda had been the only girl in the gym that morning, but she had a class at 8am and had to leave. That left Danielle as the only female and nine other male wrestlers.

First was Brent, who needed help with his finisher. In fact, he didn't even have a finisher, besides his chokeslam. John advised him to take a look at more powerful moves like Batista's finishers. He uses high-powered spinebusters and powerslams, instead of moves like those, which are in constant use by many of the bigger men in wrestling.

Next came James, who needed work on his timing. John taught him a trick about counting his footwork, which would not only give him a better rhythm, but would also improve his focus in the ring once he overcame that obstacle.

The next six wrestlers mostly had issues finding a ring style that best suited them. One wasn't sure if highflying was for him and another felt that he was better suited to be more technical than powerful. After settling those issues, it was time for John to work with "The Rebel," herself.

"Ms. Landon," John nodded cordially at her as she ducked stepped through the middle and top ropes.

"Mr. Cena," she smiled back.

"I've gotta admit, I am very impressed with your ring style. It would be a welcome change in the WWE," he praised her honestly, then switched gears. "Now that being said, I think that what we need to work on is the perfection of your finishers and variations on them. Cool with you?"

"Fine by me," she threw her hands slightly in the air and let them land on the sides of her legs.

"The move where you started off with a splitlegged moonsault… the Grinder, I believe you called it?" he asked, to which she confirmed with a nod. "It's got great potential, but I think you need to lengthen your stride as you move in to hit the ropes."

"Okay, I can do that…"

"Good," he replied and placed his title on the opposite turnbuckle momentarily. Reaching inbetween the ropes, he pulled into the ring a bright blue mat and placed it in front of an open turnbuckle. "I'm going to keep this here, one third of the way across the ring. I want you to lengthen your stride and then hit a splash to the mat instead of locking your legs around an opponent. Go."

Danielle moved to the edge of the blue mat, facing the turnbuckle, and began taking her strides towards the corner of the ring. Her feet connected with the rope as she gracefully cut through the air and landed smack in the middle of the mat.

"Excellent," he credited her excitedly. "Did you feel the height on it?"

"Yeah, I definitely did," she shook her head eagerly, as the adrenaline began to course through her veins.

"The Whirlwind looks awesome. The superkick shows off your reflexes and quickness. Great move to have, especially in an intergender match," John informed her. "Now what was your other finishing move called?"

"I haven't named it yet, actually," she admitted. "The bugs still aren't worked out yet completely."

"Don't worry about it too much. It's a solid move, but do you have a general count of how long you hold the stand up there for?"

"I usually hold for five seconds."

"Okay," he thought deeply as he sat atop the turnbuckle and began rubbing his jaw. "Try to hold for ten seconds instead, it makes the move a little bit more… for lack of a better word… dramatic."

"You want me to do it now?" Danielle asked, walking over to the top rope, facing away from him.

"Yeah, but remember, ten seconds," he reminded her, holding up his widespread fingers. "Ten."

"Gotcha," she nodded and backed up a few paces, before jumping to the ropes and entering her stance on the wiggling cable.

"One…two…" John began counting loudly. "Three…four…five…"

_Let's see if she can hold it_.

"Six…seven…eight…nine…ten! Release!" he bellowed.

On cue, Danielle snapped her legs, twisted her grip, and came back through the ropes.

"Much nicer. I think that's about all you needed. Keep up the good work," he smiled, though he found it hard to hide his pride in the young woman he barely knew.

"Thanks," Danielle answered, returning the smile and heading down from the ring.

"Alright, guys. That was a nice workout we had. I hope you learned something today or at the least, came away with some good advice," John told them sincerely. "Keep training hard… good luck in two weeks… and I hope to see you all in the WWE soon."

There were a few brief moments of clapping and then all of the wrestlers disappeared back into the bowels of the gym, including Danielle.

"Hey, Landon!" he called after her. "Where do you think you're going?"

She turned around and shouted, "To work out. What did you think I was doing?"

"I don't know… I thought you might like to go out for breakfast or something."

Danielle smirked at him, "You come to one workout and all off a sudden, you think I'm just going to up and leave with you? Don't think so, superstar."

"I thought that'd a least score some points with you," he retorted.

"It might of," she responded flirtatiously and glanced at the clock. "Alright, I'm going to get in a half hour on the treadmill and then head home. It's nine thirty now… be at my apartment at noon. I'll show you what real breakfast food is… Jersey girl style. You in?"

"Yeah," John answered quickly, "But Houston, we have a problem… I don't know where you live."

"They'll give it to you in the office," she called back to him as she turned and headed for the treadmills. "Just ask."

"What's that smile about?" Julia asked suspiciously as her roommate through her gym bag down on her bed.

"Nothing…" Danielle sang.

"I know this sounds like I'm twelve…" she warned, "But SPILL!"

"Well, you remember that guy I told you about at the bar last night?"

"Yes…" Julia leaned in closer.

"I saw him again today and he's coming over here for lunch at noon!" Danielle giggled slightly. "Wow, did I just giggle?"

_Who's the twelve year old now?_

"Yes, yes you did!" she shrieked in excitement. "Tell me, what does he look like?!?"

"Jules," Danielle drew a long breath before speaking again. "You know what he looks like already. In fact… we all know what he looks like."

"What are you talking about, Psycho?"

"Julia!" she scolded her as she began fidgeting with the ends of her hair.

"Danielle…" Julia whined, bouncing up and down on her bed like a small child. "Tell me!"

"Okay, okay…"

Danielle looked across the room and locked her gaze on the poster beside her mirror.

Julia quickly followed her line of vision, half-expecting to find something else.

"Is he a classmate of yours or…oh my God," she gasped, looking directly at the John Cena poster on her wall. "You met _him_?"

"I met him."

"You met _him_?!?" Julia practically screamed in her ear.

Danielle didn't blame Julia for her shock; sometimes she barely even believed it herself. It was the best birthday present she'd received… since her eighteenth birthday, of course.

John Cena had been all over the world –from Australia to India to the US to the UK and a million other places, yet on that one particular night, he decided to come home to West Newbury, Massachusetts. Of all the places that he and his family could choose to go for the night, they chose the one particular bar in Boston that she frequented.

Was it pure coincidence? Or was it fate?

Danielle decided that it was better to live in the moment than to worry about that; it really was making her head spin and she began to feel slightly dizzy.

Maybe thinking really was dangerous.

"Yes, Julia," she nodded and repeated slowly, "I met _him_. And he's coming here… for lunch, but due to my big mouth, I now have two hours to get ready. I need you to do me a huge, huge favor."

"Name it!" she yelled excitedly.

She grabbed a piece of paper from her end table and scribbled on the tablet.

"Run down to the store down the street and grab these items for me," she ordered, thrusting the pink page at her best friend.

"Done," Julia nodded affirmatively, "Next."

"Get out the decent dishes… the blue ones… and leave those by the stove. And since I won't be able to so much as breathe for the next two hours, set the table for me, please!"

"You've got it…" she smiled at her, completely enthralled by the idea that John Cena would be eating a meal at her apartment.

"For two," Danielle shot her a look.

"Damn."


	4. Chapter 4

The poster's eyes seemed to stare at her as she modeled her final choice of an outfit in the mirror. It had taken a half hour for Danielle to decide on her clothes, finally opting for the casual look: a pair of blue jeans and a black sweater. Taking a shower, doing her hair, and applying her make up took up only an hour of her time, but cleaning up her bedroom seemed to be taking forever.

Just fifteen minutes ago, the small bedroom she occupied looked as though a tornado had blown through straight from Oz. Somehow, by a miracle, and maybe with some help from some magic red slippers, Danielle managed to put everything away and still have a few minutes to spare to check up on everything.

She quickly checked her refrigerator and found that the new carton of eggs, bags of cheese, carton of milk, bags of fresh vegetables, carton of orange juice, and various other items had all been successfully retrieved. Not to mention, the dishes and table were set up exactly as she'd asked her best friend earlier.

_Thank God for Julia Dottrina,_ she graciously thought.

"Alright, John, I'm ready for you…" she exhaled deeply, her eyes darting around the room to make sure that everything was in place. "I think."

John looked down at the slip of paper in his hand, silently praying that he hadn't gotten the wrong address. If he had, he'd never make it to Danielle's apartment on time and she'd probably leave, thinking he'd stood her up. Once again, that was the furthest thing from his mind.

Danielle wasn't like most of the women he'd known in his past, ex-girlfriends included. She understood where her priorities lay and how important it was to just live life to the fullest, even at a young age.

For the first time, John began to think about her age. She was a day over twenty-two and he was rapidly approaching his twenty-eighth birthday. Six years didn't seem like much when he heard about a man of thirty-six marrying a thirty-year old woman, but this was different. His family wouldn't care and in fact, he knew that they'd adore her, but it was her family that worried him slightly. How could she hide her wrestling career from her family when it was his as well?

Danielle Landon was certainly no pushover and fought for what she wanted, but she also clearly knew when some things just weren't worth it. He hoped that he was worth it to her.

John had never expected, in a million years, to meet a girl like her. True, there were girls in the WWE that were gorgeous, and nice, to boot, but there was no complexity when it came to their characters. Danielle could be serious and tough when she wanted to be or fun-loving and flirtatious, but it was her softer side that attracted him to her the most. Typical problems he had overheard on Smackdown ranged from running out of makeup to bad hair days to fashion crisis, but John couldn't imagine hearing that from her on a daily basis.

No, he knew quite well what Danielle's biggest problem was: her mother. John knew that they had a good relationship, but it was precisely that aspect of their bond that troubled Danielle the most when it came to breaking the news to her mother.

She was afraid to lose her.

Traveling up the stairs of the apartment complex, to the third floor, John began to think of ways to possibly make a move on her. He wasn't going to try anything stupid or anything that could be misconstrued as chauvinistic and rude… it was more of a question of what to say and finding the right moment.

And after losing out plenty of girls in the past, John wanted to make one thing clear to himself: he was not going to lose this one.

The sound of a chime echoed loudly through the silent house, sending Danielle into a brief panic.

_He's at the door,_ she thought. _He's at the door!_

Composing herself, her subconscious quickly reminded her what to do: _Answer the door._

Unlatching the brass chain lock, Danielle pulled the door open and found John standing before her in a yellow polo and blue jeans, flowers in hand.

"Hey," he smiled at her.

Immediately, her knees went slightly weak.

_Come on, Danielle, _her mind screamed at her. _You can get hit by 250 pound men in a wrestling ring and not fall over, but you're going to let one smile do you in?!?_

"Hey yourself," she replied, exchanging a grin with him. "My, my. You clean up well."

"Thank you," John nodded graciously. "But I could certainly say the same for you. Oh… and these are for you," he handed her the bouquet of spring flowers.

"Aww, thanks, John. That was sweet of you," she received the bouquet and whirled around towards the kitchen to find a maze, her hair following suit, allowing John to catch the scent of her hair.

_Roses,_ he announced decidedly in his mind.

"Please, please," she waved him into the apartment, placing the flowers in a vase and filling it up with some water. "Don't just stand there, come in!"

He entered the room and looked around, "This is a really nice apartment. You share it with two other girls, right?"

"Yeah," Danielle nodded in concurrence, "My best friends, Kasey and Julia. Those girls are the only reason I've survived college," she added, beginning to gather ingredients from the refrigerator and move them to the counter.

"I don't know how you do it," he bounced his shoulders once in amazement, sitting down on one of the chairs at the table. "I could barely handle school on its own, even when I was given some slack because I was on the football team at Springfield. But you… you're a bright young woman at a great school, who's getting up extra early every morning to train. That's crazy, Danielle."

"Yeah," she shrugged, taking out a frying pan and a skillet. "But rebels are supposed to be crazy. By the way… would you like an omelet or scrambled eggs? I can put in just about anything."

"I guess I'll have an omelet. Put in whatever veggies you've got…and cheese," he smiled. "I haven't had a decent, home-cooked breakfast in ages."

"And unless I cook for you another time, you'll never have another one like it," she shook her head playfully from the stove.

"I hope you can some time," John replied sincerely. "I can't cook for my life. I can make pasta and cereal, but that's about it."

"Well, come over here and maybe you'll learn something."

He pushed his chair away from the table and walked into the kitchen.

"Something smells good," he announced, sniffing the air.

"It's your eggs, John," she answered as he stepped up behind her. "I told you… you'll never have another meal like it, unless I cook for you again."

He propped his head up on her right shoulder, looking down at her hands at work and smiling.

"Like I said before, Danielle," John turned his cheek towards her shoulder, briefly reveling in the floral scent of her caramel blonde locks and the soft cotton fabric of her sweater, "I hope so."

Immediately, a chill ran down her spine and his voice reverberated within her body, within her mind, and within her soul. There was something about John Cena that got to her and whatever that something was, Danielle didn't want it to go away.

"Be careful what you say, John," she warned him.

"I'm just being honest," he assured her, continuing to talk directly into her ear. "I'm a pretty stand up guy, you know?"

"I know, believe me I know. That's one of the things I like about you, John," Danielle sighed, continuing to watch over the eggs, separating them from the pan with the spatula as she spoke.

"I hope you realize that your cooking isn't the reason I like you."

Danielle whipped her head in his direction.

Had she really heard that right?

"What-what did you say?" she stammered in shock.

"I said I like you, Danielle," he repeated to her, a smile playing at the corners of his lips. "A lot. I know it's only been less than a day, but…" he pointed to the blatant smile now gracing his face. "You see this?"

"Yeah," she managed to breathe out.

"I haven't been able to stop doing this since I met you."

Danielle broke their stare for a moment to flip the omelet and then slide it onto the plate, followed by her own from the other pan, as John removed his temple from her shoulder.

Honestly, all she wanted was to do was eliminate any distraction there might have been from the moment, yet now she was silently kicking herself for possibly destroying it.

Swiftly, she pivoted to face him, looking him into his perpetually deep, turquoise eyes, noticing the height differential for the very first time.

Standing at six feet, one inches tall, John towered over her petite 5'4" frame. She'd always enjoyed being with men who were taller than her, but every memory of every single guy she'd been enamored with throughout her life had been washed away with one look into those deep blue orbs of his.

"Do you mean that, John?" she stared him down, placing her hands on her hips.

"I don't say things that I don't mean," he replied, continuing to seek out an answer in her hazel eyes, but finally relenting to drop his stare.

Danielle let out a heavy sigh, figuring that she had just killed the moment altogether. _What a waste._

Her eyes followed John's pacing across the gleaming tiles of her kitchen, occasionally followed by a pause and his hand sliding up and down his jaw line.

"John," she called to him softly. "I…I…I…"

"No, Danielle, it's okay," he put his hands up to stop her from digging herself further into the hole she already was in. "I understand."

"That's what I'm trying to say!" she cried out in frustration. "You don't understand!"

"Then make me," he ran his left hand over his closely-cut brown hair. "Make me understand."

She turned around to haphazardly mix the potatoes that she'd left sizzling on the stovetop, before continuing the conversation momentarily.

"John, the last thing I was looking for in life was a relationship, okay?" she threw her hands up in the air, allowing them to quickly fall to her hips. "I've been let down way too many times to let love distract me from where I wanted to go and what I wanted to be, but then last night happened," Danielle's face softened as she leaned backwards against the countertop. "And… and I met you. I never met someone that understood what I built my life on, the principles behind it, and the way my mind works. Talking to you made me see that I wasn't alone in the world. I know, I know. I have my best friends, who know everything about me, but they don't know what my mind is like at the end of the day!" she raised her voice slightly and the shut her eyes tightly to prevent the tears from falling.

Yet when she blinked, her vision was blurred and her eyes watery.

"I know exactly what that's like," John nodded knowingly, somewhat caught off guard at her honesty.

"That's what scares me, John," she admitted, a lone tear scraping away at her porcelain skin.

"Danielle, there's no reason for you to fear me… at all. I just want you to know that."

"I don't fear you," Danielle shook her head honestly.

"Then what do you fear?" he began walking towards her. "I know it's not any wrestler or for that matter, any tattooed woman in…"

"Us, John!" she yelled, completely aggravated by her inability to make up her mind. "I'm afraid that if we start something… we won't finish it."

"You make this sound like it's a project," he laughed, much to her dismay.

"Don't patronize me, Cena," she spat at him harshly, switching the stove to off. "I've been left dreaming of a life that never came to be way too many times before, okay? The last thing I need is for that to happen again…"

"So what are you going to do? Let this pass you by?" he questioned angrily.

"What do you want me to say, John?" she rubbed her temples roughly.

"Look," he held his hands up in mock surrender, trying to solidify a temporary cease fire with her. "I never meant to start an argument with you over this, Danielle. I just wanted to be honest with you and let you know how I feel. If you don't feel the same way, I can't force you to. All I want you to do is to just repeat what your heart is telling you," he finished, but held a finger up to silence her before she could begin again. "Not your mind, your heart."

"I want there to be an 'us,'" she answered shakily.

"That's what I want too," he assured her. "You're the first girl who's completely herself around me and I don't want to lose that, Danielle," John wiped at one of her tears with the pad of his thumb as she leaned into the palm of his hand . "I don't want to lose you."

"You don't have to," she smiled contently, enjoying the feel of his touch.

"That's good," he beamed at her. "Because otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to do this."

John leaned forward, cutting through the empty space between him and Danielle, to connect with her lips. Her eyes fluttered closed as she felt his lips capture hers, reveling in the moment.

A few moments later, he pulled back a few inches, leaving Danielle with eyes still closed.

"Hey, John?" she asked breathlessly.

"Yeah?"

"I don't want you lose you either," she admitted.

"That's good," he smirked slightly, trying to hide the fact that he was just as excited as she was. "But I think you owe me breakfast..."

"Yes, I think I do. Sit down," she laughed, stacking some potatoes on both plates, as John followed orders.

She placed an orange juice carton on the table, then returned a few moments later with their respective plates and sat down.

"So we're official now?" Danielle asked, dropping her fork on her plate, and placing her left hand down on the table, as she realized what her words meant.

"I guess so," John responded, covering her left hand with his right.

"Good."

"Yeah, I think so too. I just have to warn you, Dan," he spoke honestly, using his nickname for her for the first time, "This isn't going to be easy. I'm going to be on the road a lot and we're going to be apart for long stretches at a time. There are going to be nights when I am not myself because I'm dazed and/or in pain. Our relationship is never going to be a piece of cake."

"John, if I wanted easy, I wouldn't have become a wrestler."

"That's true. You know, in a month's time, you might even be out on the road with me."

"Yes," she admitted, "But I'd much rather be on RAW then Smackdown, babe. The title's there and the division's there."

"I understand that," he agreed with her, "But we'd still be traveling pretty close. Even though, as champ, I'm obligated to stay on Smackdown."

"I know that too, but you know what I also know?"

"What?" John chuckled, arching an eyebrow at her.

"In the WWE, anything can happen."

The week had gone by rather quickly, signaling the end of her spring break and of John's stay in Massachusetts. Truth be told, she'd gotten rather used to having him around and being with him most of the time. That didn't mean that she ditched her friends in the process at all and in fact, they enjoyed hanging out with John as much as she did. Then again, it didn't hurt that John had four brothers and a cousin that they could potentially choose from.

It was going to be hard for Danielle to get back to school the next day and refocus herself on everything that she had prioritized in her life. School came first and foremost, with only a month and a half or so left until graduation, and wrestling came second, followed by everything else.

Now, she didn't want to get ahead of herself, but Danielle knew in her heart that there was a good chance that she could be in the WWE by the beginning of summer. The only problem was still, of course, her mother.

Her eyes flickered to the clock, which read 8:11pm, signaling that it was time to call Mother Dearest.

She picked up the phone after the third ring.

"Hello?" her voice traveled through the speaker.

"Hi, Mom."

"Hi, Dani! How are you?" she asked excitedly.

"I'm good," Danielle replied to her question routinely. "I just figured I'd call to say hello. How's Dad?"

"He's good… just trying to figure out how to put together your sister's new desk," her mother sighed and Danielle heard some yelling in the background. "And it's not really going too well."

"So I hear…"

"So how are Julia and Kasey? It's probably slightly lonely up there with them back here for a while. I bumped into Kase and her mom at the mall the other day."

"Well, Mom, I must admit, it's not _too_ lonely up in Boston," Danielle smiled coyly into the phone, fully understanding that her mom would pick up on the blatantly dropped hint.

"Danielle Rachel Landon!" she exclaimed in surprise. "What's his name?"

"His name is John and we've been together for about a week now. I met him at a bar down the street on my birthday and we went out for coffee after finding we were both bored. We pretty much started talking and realized how similar we were."

"Wow! That's good news, I'll be sure to tell your sister… what's he like?"

"He's about 6'1" with brown hair and bright turquoise eyes," Danielle began indulging in her conversation about her boyfriend.

"You and your blue-eyed boys," her mother teased her and Danielle pictured her mom rolling her chocolate brown eyes at the thought.

"He used to be a body-builder, Mom. That doesn't hurt."

"Finally, someone who might actually be able to match your metabolism," she continued to joke.

"Mom, please. But there's something you should know about John. He's older than me by more than a couple of years…"

"Well, sweetie, Dad and I are fourteen years apart. You know you're just not allowed to go above and beyond that!"

"He's twenty-eight," she forced out quickly.

Surprisingly, her mother didn't protest the relationship and only asked a single question.

"Does he treat you well?"

"Of course," Danielle answered immediately.

"Then that's all that matters," she cleared her throat and began to discuss a new topic, well… almost new. "You're coming down in three weeks, right? On Saturday for dinner?"

"I think so…" Danielle trailed off, thinking about the possibility of being a contracted WWE wrestler by then.

"Then bring John with you."

_I knew it was too good to be true._

"He travels a lot, Mom. He's got a steady job that takes him on the road all the time, so I don't know if he'll be able…" her words were cut short by her ring tone, Celebrity Skin by Hole, sounding from across the room. "Mom? Give me a second, my cell phone's ringing."

"Okay, but if it's John, ask him!" she urged.

_Ugh, now I'm stuck._

Danielle darted to her dresser and grabbed her ringing cell phone off the white mica top.

_John Cena_.

"Damn," she sighed disappointedly. She wanted to hear from him, but now he'd be forced to meet her parents. "Hello?" she answered.

"Hello there, babe," his voice graced her ears delicately, like wind chimes in the springtime.

"Hey you, what's up?"

"Not much, just wanted to see what you were up to?"

"I'm on the phone with my mother… and she wants to meet you. Already," she sighed.

"That's cool, I'm good with parents," he replied nonchalantly, failing to realize that his occupation would wind up as the topic of conversation. "By the way, I'm coming home on Friday of this week and then again, in three weeks. That way, I can see you very soon, and then in three weeks time, we can celebrate your signing of a WWE contract!"

"Please, sweetheart," Danielle cringed at his over-exuberance. "Please, don't jinx it."

"I forgot, I forgot," he apologized swiftly. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Just be forewarned, you're going to be meeting my brother, sister-in-law, her stepfather, and my nephew on Friday. Other than my brother and Rachel's stepdad, you'll be fine. They'll just be overprotective."

"I'm not nervous. It's going to be fine," John's voice soothed her frazzled nerves. "Get off the phone and tell your mother I say hello and that I'll see her in three weeks, alright?"

Flopping down on the couch, Danielle exhaled deeply.

_Three weeks and everything changes, _she thought.

"Alright, I will," she whined. "I'll talk to you later, John."

"Goodnight, Danielle… oh and by the way, I left something for you in your top drawer by your bed last night," he added suggestively.

"Do you have any idea how wrong that sounds?"

"Absolutely. Goodnight," he laughed and Danielle could picture him grinning smugly as he clicked off his phone.

God, how frustrated he made her.

"Mom?" she picked her cell phone up again.

"Have a nice little conversation?" a slightly younger teenage voice filled her ear.

"Good evening, Samantha," Danielle smiled into the phone, ready to begin her favorite part of the week. Sarcastic exchanges with her sister absolutely made her day. "I thought you'd be out flying on your broomstick right about now."

"Well, apparently, I'm not the only one riding a broomstick… I hear you're seeing some new guy."

"Get your mind out of the gutter, demon child…" she seethed into the phone. But yes. I am dating this guy named John. You'll meet him in three weeks," she answered plainly. "Put Mom back on the phone. Now."

"Oh, you're no fun," Samantha complained and obliged begrudgingly.

"I'm so glad that you and Sam get along, Danielle," she practically could hear her mothers hands hitting her hips, combined with a look of disapproval.

"Me too," she spoke quickly to avoid the subject of her sisterly bond. "That was John. He said to say hello and say that he'll be joining me in three weeks."

"Wonderful," her mother answered brightly and she knew that there were already wedding bells ringing in her mother's sometimes-twisted mind.

_Not quite yet, Mother_, she laughed in her head.

"So I'm sure I'll hear all about him from your brother this weekend!" her mom added excitedly. "I'm sorry, that's all I heard from your conversation. Anyway, I must go find your father and make sure he doesn't punch a hole through the wall."

"Good idea, Mom."

"Especially," she emphasized the word, "Since you'd be the one to fix it. I believe you put a fair share of holes through walls in your day, Danielle."

"Seven, actually."

"My point exactly. Goodnight, Danielle. Work hard!"

"I will, Mom," she replied routinely again and hung up the phone.

This was how every conversation seemed to end. If her mother only knew how hard she really worked…

As Danielle sat down on her bed, she began to think how interesting it would be to see how her mom reacted to wrestling being John's occupation of choice; even more interesting when she found out that her daughter had been training for almost four years to do the same.

Seventeen years of lying would come to an end and so might a twenty two year old bond between mother and daughter.

Looking at her end table, Danielle's frown turn into a bright grin, as she turned to the poster of John on her wall. "That's right! What the hell did you leave for me, you pervert?"

She slid open her drawer and found a loosely wrapped package sitting inside, right on top. Ripping away the wrapping paper, she removed an upside down, neatly folded black garment with white pinstripes

"I didn't know you were capable of folding anything, period…" her voice trailed off as she picked up the fabric and opened it.

"Chain Gang, number fifty-four," Danielle's hand flew to her mouth as she flipped it around. "Landon. You remembered, John."

Throwing it on over her black ribbed tank top, she couldn't help but admire herself in the mirror as she styled the mock football jersey.

It was fitting, both physically and mentally.

Danielle allowed a smile to creep up her face as she stared at her reflection in the glass, "Damn. I look good."


	5. Chapter 5

Three hours… that's all that was left. Any moment now, her brother, sister-in-law, her sister-in-law's stepfather, and nephew would come through one of the reflective steel doors of the hotel elevators to greet her.

In all of the conversations they'd had this week; Danielle had left out just one little detail. That detail's name just happened to be John Cena: WWE superstar, rappers, and most importantly, her boyfriend.

Sitting on a plush burgundy couch, she began to occupy herself with magazines. Picking up Sports Illustrated, she began to flip through the pages. However, one article in particular caught her eye.

"The Champ is Here," Danielle read aloud. "Three days after winning his first WWE Title by defeating JBL at Wrestlemania 21, John Cena sat down to give us a glimpse into his life…"

"Whacha readin'? a young voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Justin!" she squealed, delighted to see her nephew. "Oh… nothing. Come here!" she smiled brightly and wrapped her arms around him tightly, still clutching the magazine in her hands.

She rose to her feet to greet her brother and sister-in-law.

"Mike, nice to see you big bro!" she laughed as he wrapped her in a bear hug.

"You too, kid," he returned her laughter.

"Hey," she pouted, folding her arms over her chest. "Last time I checked… I could **so** take you."

"In your dreams, munchkin!" he taunted her, rubbing the top of her head.

At 5'10" tall, and at 22, Mike Landon could have easily taken down his little, ten-year-old sister, but now at 34 years old, he'd be surprised when he got fisherman's suplexed flat on his ass.

"Hey!" his wife slapped him upside the back of his head.

"What the hell was that for?!?" he argued in protest.

"Never mess with a woman's hair!" she shot him a look.

Sometimes, Danielle didn't know what she'd do without her sister-in-law, Rachel. The 5'7" brunette was like the big sister she never had, even when she and Mike got married right before Danielle's fifteenth birthday. Life was moving in a completely different direction way back then and Rachel was there to put her life experience to good use. Although, Danielle doubted that Rachel had experienced anything quite like her current situation before.

"Tom's getting the car from the valet, Danielle," Rachel began, referring to her stepfather, who was also one of Danielle's trainers. "Do you want us to follow?"

"No, why don't you come in my car and the boys will enjoy some male bonding while we girls talk?" she suggested heavily.

Rachel quickly picked up on the tone of her voice and immediately agreed. "Fine," she nodded and followed Danielle to her car, still holding onto the issue of Sports Illustrated.

* * *

About three minutes into the drive, which would taken ten minutes normally, Mike called Rachel to tell her that Justin had spilled soda all over himself and they were turning back to get some clothes for him. 

Rachel relayed the message to Danielle, who in turn gave him directions yet again, then hung up the phone.

"Is there something you haven't told me, Danielle?" Rachel lifted her eyebrows in suspicion.

"Yes, that's why I wanted you in the car with me, but we'll have plenty of time to talk about it at home…" she trailed off and then glanced at the clock. "Um, make that two hours," she stuttered nervously, steering the car onto her street and then in front of her apartment building.

"What's in two hours, hun?"

"We're going to have another guest joining us tonight, Rach," Danielle attempted to explain.

"Danielle Landon!" Rachel squealed in delight as she opened her door and got out of the vehicle. "Is it a guy?!?" she continued her barrage of questions as they passed through the glass doors of the building.

Her face immediately flushed as she reached for floor three's button on the elevator.

"I'll take that as a yes!"

The doors slid open and Danielle reached in her bag, fumbling with her keys before opening the door to her apartment.

"Um… say something, here!" Rachel goaded her.

"What is there to say?" she shrugged.

_Stupid question._

"What does he look like? What's his name?" she began tossing ideas at her like dodgeballs, which Danielle tried to avoid at all costs. "Throw me a bone, here!"

"Fine!" Danielle obliged, reaching into her bag. "Page 89… see if he answers any questions about his personal life," she urged her, tossing the magazine onto the grey kitchen counter.

Rachel scanned the article and came upon a reference to his love life, ignoring the cover page of the interview.

"Ah! Here you go…SI asks: 'What was the best part about your first night home?' He replies 'I met this girl in a bar called…."

"Tonic," Danielle finished for her.

"Yeah," Rachel continued, perplexed by her quick response. "Tonic. She was incredible. Let me tell you something, I've seen some pretty unbelievable things before, but this girl works hard as a senior at…"

"Boston University."

"That's weird," Rachel remarked and continued once again. "Boston University… she's a poly-sci major, but is training five days a week to become a wrestler. She's held that schedule down for…." Rachel gasped loudly, beginning to catch on. "Three years! I don't know how many people that sacrifice that much and are as hardworking…' Danielle, is this you?!?" she asked, puzzled by the interview.

"Yes, Rachel, it's me," Danielle sighed and stood behind the counter. "But look who's on the cover… it's him."

Rachel flipped the pages back into order and then turned over the magazine, her eyes widening in shock as she found herself almost face to face with her sister-in-law's boyfriend.

"Danielle…you? Him?" she asked incredulously, finding herself at a complete loss for words.

"Yes, Rach. Sit down," she sighed, checking the clock. "I've got 45 minutes to tell you everything."

Danielle told her about how she met him at Tonic, how they got to the café, and about the car ride home. Then she moved on to the following day with her training sessions and then their lunchtime discussions.

"So you're not joking about him…"

"Joking about whom?" her brother's voice cut deftly through their conversation, sending Danielle into a state of mental panic.

"Hey, Danielle," Tom smiled at her, his massive frame, and snake-tattooed arms, hugging her body.

"Hey, Tom," she smiled back weakly.

"What's the matter?"

"Oh, nothing…"

"Danielle," Tom placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "What's going on?"

"There's something you guys need to know. There's going to be another guest joining us for dinner…"

"Dani," Mike laughed. "I know we're meeting your boyfriend tonight. Mom told me."

Rachel smacked him in the arm sharply.

"What was that for now?" Mike yelled angrily.

"Because you didn't tell me!"

"Look, stop, for one second. I understand that you know," she nodded once and continued. "But in an hour, he'll be here. What I'm trying to say is…"

"You want us to behave," Mike teased as the doorbell rang.

"That's weird. Probably Julia… it's too early," Danielle concluded and then walked to the door.

"What? Wanting us to behave?"

"No! No! Listen to me! I'm just trying to prepare you for this, okay? He's not just some ordinary guy off the street, Mike."

"Aww, how sweet," he mused, sarcasm dripping like sap off of his words.

"Shut up for once in your life!" she reached for the door knob as the bell rang again and began to open the oak door. "My boyfriend's name is…"

"Hey, babe," John kissed her lightly on the cheek, appearing in the doorway. "I'm sorry I'm early but I traded flights with Randy to get in a little earlier," he explained as he walked into the room, not realizing that her family was already present. "Oh, I'm sorry," he quickly apologized. "I didn't realize you all were already here."

John approached her brother and extended his hand, which Mike shook.

"You must be Danielle's brother, Mike. I'm…"

"John Cena?" Mike turned to his sister. "This is your boyfriend?"

"Yeah," she blushed.

"Nice to meet you, John."

"You too," he agreed and introduced himself to Rachel.

"I've heard a lot about you, John," she acknowledged.

"All good, I hope," he laughed, eying Danielle, before turning to Tom.

"Tom Norton," Tom shook John's hand firmly. "Strong grip there, son. Impressive. I used to be a wrestler you know…"

"Yes, Danielle told me about how much you trained her. I gotta admit, man, you did one hell of a job."

"Thanks, but I possess only a small fraction of the responsibility of a performer. She has to execute everything, so I have to give credit where it's due. To her," he replied.

John knelt down before Danielle's nephew, Justin, and smiled at him.

"Hey there, little man."

"You're John Cena!" Justin yelled in delight.

"Yep and you're Justin, right?" he responded.

Justin's youthful eyes widened. "You know my name?!?"

"Of course. Your Aunt Danielle told me all about you. You like wrestling, huh?"

"Yeah! And soon, I'm going to be able to tell all my friends that she's going to be in the WWE!" he exclaimed.

"Justin…" Danielle warned.

"No, no…" John waved her off. "I got this. Buddy, I've gotta tell you, your aunt's awesome in the ring, but no matter how good you are at something… well, sometimes things don't go the way you want. You've got to keep trying, though, so if things don't go the right way, Danielle's going to keep trying. Until then though, don't tell anyone about it. But I am going to tell you something else, however, you can't tell anyone okay?"

"Okay!" he nodded eagerly.

John leaned towards him and whispered the secret into his ear.

"That's funny!" Justin laughed.

"Remember, no telling! Our little secret, alright?"

"Okay!" he called back again, then bounced off into another room in the apartment.

"That was impressive," Rachel grinned at Danielle and then turned to John. "You're good with kids."

"Don't say that just yet," he shook his head at her. "Just wait until I teach him how to explode garbage cans using fireworks," John smiled wickedly.

"Um," Danielle's eyes narrowed at him. "Let's not."

* * *

**Thank you to my darling readers, especially my read-and-reviewers, who I love just a little bit more. Keep those reviews coming and please check out my other Cena story, which delves a little bit further into John's childhood, upbringing, family, etc. It's called She's a Rebel. **

**Danielle**


	6. Chapter 6

After dinner, Rachel, Danielle, and Tom headed into the kitchen to clean up the sea of dishes piled sky high in the sink.

John, too, was about to lend a hand to Tom and the two women, when Mike blocked his path past the table.

"I'm heading outside for a cigarette… come on outside," Mike urged him.

"No thanks," he refused politely, "I don't smoke."

Mike looked at him and simply shrugged, "I know."

Danielle was busy trying to fill the dishwasher with the many dishes blocking the sink.

"Hey, John?" she turned around and called to the now-empty table. "Can you… John?" she looked around, furrowing her eyebrows into a deep V.

"Over here," Rachel waved her over, gazing out the window by the refrigerator. "Look."

Outside was her brother, lighting up a cigarette and beginning a conversation.

She knew that John could certainly hold his own when it came to Mike's interrogation, but something inside left her nervous. Very nervous.

* * *

Mike pulled a green lighter out of his pocket and flicked on an equally open green flame to light the cancer stick from his new pack of Marlboro Lights.

"Copper."

"Excuse me?" Mike asked him, pulling the cigarette from his mouth.

"Copper," John repeated again, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "It creates green fire when you mix them."

"I don't know, I didn't pay any attention in class in school, anyway," he shrugged in response.

"Neither did I," John laughed. "My brothers and I enjoyed making homemade fireworks."

"You've got brothers?"

"Four of them?

Mike nodded and took another long drag of the cigarette and asked, "How about sisters?"

"Mom wasn't that lucky."

"Look," he began. "I think you're a good guy and you've got a good head on your shoulders…"

"But," John started for him, "You don't know if I'm good enough for your sister."

"She's the middle child, you know. I was the fuck up," Mike blew some smoke into the night air. "Samantha is the baby who gets away with everything, Danielle – she was supposed to be my mother's success story."

"Mike, I'm not trying to take her away from you guys…"

"It has been so hard the past three years, hiding what she loved the most from our parents, living a double like," he continued to speak, ignoring John's comments. "It doesn't help that it's your life too, John."

"Let's get one thing straight here Mike," John's voice raised slightly as he became agitated by Mike's insinuations. "Your sister is one of the most gifted young women out there, not to mention one of the most talented wrestlers the WWE will **ever see**. She is going to wind up there by the end of the summer, and there was no doubt about that before in your mind, before I came along. She would have been there whether or not I ever even came along. I'm not the one forcing her to tell your parents in three weeks; she made that decision on her own!"

"But she didn't think about it until she met you," Mike shot back.

"Yeah, Mike," he glared at him. "Because up until she met me, no one understood that life and how important family is when you lead this life. Not you, not your wife, not your father-in-law or anybody else. All she needed was the perspective of someone who knew that career and that life."

"So that's what you told her to do?" Mike threw his burning cigarette harshly to the concrete, crushing it moments later with his black boot. "You told her to give up the secret that would potentially rip this family to shreds?"

"I told her nothing," John retorted sharply through gritted teeth, stepping nearly on Mike's toes.

"You told her enough."

He was now about five seconds away from knocking Mike Landon's lights out, but Danielle would never forgive him if he did. He knew that was the last thing he needed, so John made the difficult decision to back away from his girlfriend's brother.

"Go ahead, John… hit me," Mike chided him on. "I dare you."

"You're not worth it, Landon," John replied bitterly.

"You're right," Mike nodded triumphantly, walking past John to the swinging glass door of the building. Turning around, he smiled, "But she is."

After Mike had disappeared through the doors, he leaned against the bricks of the structure.

Blowing a cold plume of smoke into the air, John couldn't help but chuckle at his stupidity.

"I always knew your temper would get the best of you."

His head quickly whipped to his left, where he caught sight of Danielle sitting on the bricks around the garden boxes. He was just about to open his mouth to speak, when she put a finger to her lips.

"No, you're not crazy. I just got here," she stated knowingly.

"Ah," he nodded slowly, walking towards her. "How much did you hear, though? He asked, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the small wall.

"Enough to know that my brother won't be bothering us anymore."

"Did he do this with all your boyfriends?"

"Pretty much, but you're the first one to pick me over a fight," she smiled proudly. "Look, my brother may be a lot of things, John, but he means well."

"He asked me if I had any sisters…"

"Yeah, he wanted to see if you knew what he was about to start," Danielle said nonchalantly. "And by the way, since when do you know how to make fireworks?"

John placed his hand on her arm tenderly and looked her right in the eyes before saying, "Since I kissed you for the first time."

Danielle was taken aback by his uncharacteristic comment. Soon, though, the corners of John's mouth began to twitch and he burst into laughter a few moments later.

"How sappy was that?" he chuckled, holding onto his ribs.

"Like molasses," she rolled her eyes noticeably.

"Honestly, though… my dad taught me that. He once showed my older brother, Steve, how to make homemade fireworks and it later became the worst mistake he ever made," he paused to control his laughter and the continued. "Three garbage cans later…"

"Wrestler, rapper, actor… pyromaniac…" she chuckled, her teeth beginning to chatter.

"Hey," John turned to her concernedly. "Babe, you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she shook him off. "It's just a little cold out, that's all. It's Boston, I don't expect much else.

"Here," John took off his black North Face jacket and handed it to her.

"John, you'll freeze," she shoved it away. "And then when I get to the WWE, I won't be known as 'The Rebel,' I'll be known as the girl who let the WWE Champ, John Cena, catch pneumonia, causing him to die just because she was cold."

"Um, sweetheart…" John tried to halt her little tangent, while attempting to subdue his own laughter. "That's a bit long of a nickname."

"Way to take me seriously, moron," Danielle pouted, pursing her lips.

"Oh no…" he shook his head and put his hands up in surrender. "Don't do that."

"Why not?"

"That's your equivalent of the puppy dog face," he informed her.

"But I don't want anything!"

"I think you do," John smirked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Danielle smacked him roughly on the arm, "Shut up!"

"Oh come on," he tossed his jacket on her and then stood up, taking off his light blue Lacoste polo. "You know you want some of this," John added, wiggling his pecs.

"You know what? If you catch pneumonia now, I'm gonna laugh."

"Eww… you're mean," he stuck his tongue out at her and sat back down.

"Well," she looked around innocently and bit her lip. "I'm not always mean…" Danielle let a Cheshire grin creep across her face and pushed his jacket away, straddling his legs, then whispered, "Only if I have to be."

"I like the sound of that," he answered suggestively.

Danielle leaned down until their noses touched and they were breathing in each other's air.

"Yeah?"

"Hell fucking yeah," he grinned smugly at her.

Suddenly, a few feet away, someone cleared his/her throat, causing her head to whip around.

The voice belonged to her neighbor, a school teacher named Mrs. Harris.

Quickly pulling away from John, she stammered, "Uh… hi, Mrs. Harris."

"Ms. Landon," the gray-haired woman of nearly sixty shuffled past her and then through the doors of the building.

"Yeah," Danielle sat back down on John's lap, burying her face, now a burning shade of crimson, into the warm flesh of his bare shoulder. "I'll never be able to look her in the eye again!"

"She reminds me of my seventh grade teacher," John shuddered. "We all thought she was a cat lady."

"Wouldn't surprise me," Danielle shrugged and then kissed him softly on the lips.

"What was that for?"

"Just 'cause…"

"Just 'cause?" he pulled his head back a little bit.

"Yeah. Just 'cause I wanted to."

"You keep that up," he warned, "And we might be arrested for indecent exposure."

"I might want to take my chances," she smiled suggestively.

"Later, Danielle," he kissed her gently. "Later."

"Okay…" she whined. "My family awaits, I suppose."

"Yes, they do," he laughed, putting back on his shirt and coat. "Speaking of family…"

"Mhmm?"

"I told my dad that we'd come and visit tomorrow, since I'm in town and you don't have classes until Wednesday," he said quickly and booked it through the doors, leaving her processing the information a few feet behind.

"Oh, okay…" she nodded and then realized what he'd just said. "Wait… WHAT?!?"

* * *

**A/N: So there you go... I hope that you liked this chapter. I heart the following read and review-er's:**

**con's girl, OTHlover04, MissPhillippinesSuperStar, beanybaby, Enigmatic Lotus Leaf, ginny-potter-07, SexyPunk54.**

**I also must thank Evil Woman, JerZeeSkyLine, and NatalieJanel, for making PIC a favorite story, along with 21stCenturyCinderella, Cena07, Jen105, SoCoFan4Ever, WWEfan54, batistasangel24, cenaluver87, and star-shimmered-dragon for putting PIC on their alert list.**

**Once again, please feed the feedback monster and check out my other in-progress story: She's a Rebel. While Partners in Crime has my personality in it, She's a Rebel is my baby at the moment. Take good care of her and check it out.**

**Danielle**


	7. Chapter 7

"You are going to be fine, Danielle. It's just one weekend!"

"No, John!" she threw herself backwards into her seat, as if she were a small child throwing a tantrum. "It's not just _one_ weekend. I am meeting your family," she drew out slowly. "Your family!"

"Danielle, relax. I met _your_ family and it went fine," he assured her, keeping his blue eyes locked on the road.

'Oh yeah, you're right. It went fine," she agreed passively, loosening her grip on her seat belt. "Until you almost punched my brother in the face!"

"Well," John turned towards her briefly, holding back his laughter at her flustered state. "I can promise that none of my brothers will try to punch you in the face. See? All better."

"Yep, John. That takes care of it all," she sniped sarcastically, sliding her palms past each other cleanly. "If you weren't driving, and my life wasn't on the line, I'd smack you sooo hard right now," Danielle stated angrily, looking out the window and refusing to look at him.

The trees, the air, the sky… it was all just so simple. They were just a product of a complicated science that was pure happenstance. Her relationship with John was rather similar, created by pure chance, fueled by the desire to exist.

About fifteen minutes later, while Danielle was still lost in her thoughts, John reached over and turned off the radio, catching her attention.

"Dan, you can't say mad at me forever."

"You're right, John. I can't. Then, they'll hate me," she laughed sarcastically. "With my family, I knew what I was getting into. It would be My Family – (Rachel, Justin, and Tom) + John Cena + overprotectiveness – patience Combustion x 103."

"I was never any good at Algebra," she shook his head.

She rubbed her temples roughly and corrected him, "That was chemistry."

"See what I mean?" he responded jokingly, attempting to thaw the icy casing Danielle had built around herself.

Danielle continued her cold gaze out the window, but couldn't contain the smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

"I knew I would get you to smile."

"Why?" Danielle pressed her forehead against the cool glass, completely frustrated. "Why can't I just get myself to be angry at you?"

"Because you love me," he laughed at her.

"How unfortunate for me," Danielle rolled her eyes and sighed.

A groan from the backseat interrupted their conversation and drew their attention to the read of the car.

"He loves you. I love you. You love me. We're all merrily in love. Now can I get some sleep?" Julia whined into the fabric of Danielle's Civic.

Danielle elbowed John lightly and mouthed, "Watch this."

He nodded and continued to watch the road, occasionally glancing back at Julia in the rearview mirror.

"So, Julia. Did John tell you about the sleeping arrangements this weekend?" she asked, craning her neck to catch Julia's reflection in the rear-view mirror.

"No…" she pouted noticeably. "Thanks, John."

"Sorry. It slipped my mind."

"Anyway," Danielle interrupted. "Due to the… limited… amount of space, you and I will be sharing a room."

"Wait a second," Julia sat up sharply. "Aren't you and John sleeping in his room?"

"Point being?" Danielle eyed her in the mirror.

Julia's jaw practically dropped to the floor.

"I'm just kidding, Jules," she laughed at her best friend's expense.

"Oh, how funny," she shot back bitterly. "You're definitely going to hell for that one.

"It wouldn't be much of a surprise to me. Actually, you're probably going to be taking Matt's room and he'll sleep on the couch."

"Good because John's entire salary for 2005 would have been drained on the amount of therapy I would have required after that. Christ, it's your first night sleeping in the same bed…"

"Why do you know that?" John's eyebrows shot up as he shot his girlfriend a somewhat quizzical look.

"Julia!" Danielle's eyes widened at her friend. "God, we're staying in the same house as his father and brothers!"

"I've done worse."

"Yes," she nodded spitefully. "Yes, you have."

* * *

The car rolled up the gravel driveway a few minutes past ten that morning. Julia, freshly rested, hopped out of the car to stretch her legs.

"Ahh! Land!" she exclaimed and the stared down at the ground. "I could kiss you."

"My driving is not that bad, Julia!" John protested.

"Yeah, but it's not that good either."

"John!" a strong voice called from about one hundred feet away.

John smiled and turned around towards his father.

"Fabbo!" he yelled to his dad, who was steadily approaching.

"Nice to see you, son," John Sr. beamed at his second eldest son, embracing him roughly.

"Dad," he began to speak seriously and pulled back from his father. "This is Danielle Landon," he gestured sideways to his girlfriend, who extended her hand politely.

"Nice to meet you, sir," she smiled warmly at him, shaking his hand firmly.

"Firm grip you've got there, Rebel," he chuckled, addressing her by her nickname. "Please call me John. Wait… that might get complicated. Or Senior. Or Fabbo. Or Dad…"

"I think I'll call you Dad. That's easy enough," she laughed.

"Dad it is then… and this must be your friend, Julia," he shook her hand as well.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Cena. Thank you for letting me tag along…"

"It's no problem, we're a house of all men here…"

"Really? Are you sure…" Danielle joked.

"Haha. Haha," John forcedly laughed. "Not funny."

"Wow. John's mother is going to loooovvvve you," Senior laughed. "Ladies, head on inside," he gestured. "We'll get the luggage later."

The girls nodded and headed towards the front steps of the family home.

John leaned in towards his father and said in a hushed tone, "Let me guess? Mom's home."

John Sr. nodded and mumbled, "For the last two hours."

His parents divorce had been final for nearly nine years now, but it was still difficult for him to think about, even after all the time that had passed. John was extremely close to his father and being one of five boys, all of whom loved wrestling, this didn't come as much of a surprise to anyone who knew the family.

His mother was still a major part of his life, though, and the Cena brothers adored her, despite her lack of enthusiasm regarding their days of backyard wrestling matches. Contrary to her former opinions, though, Carol had grown to enjoy the matches and was quite proud of John's accomplishments.

Despite his father's constant remarks about his mother in her absence, they were relatively civil to each other at family gatherings. Neither one of them wanted to deprive their sons of either parent and understood they were loved equally.

"Hey, Mom!" John greeted his mother inside with a loving peck on her fair cheek.

"Welcome home, sweetheart!" she beamed, embracing her son. "How was the drive up? Did you and Danielle hit any traffic?" Carol began and then quickly continued, halting the words in John's throat. "Speaking of Danielle… where is she?"

"Mom, mom…" John laughed at his mother's rapid-fire interrogation. "She's right here."

"Hello, m'am," Danielle extended her hand to her boyfriend's mother. "It's an absolute pleasure to meet you."

"Please, please, call me Carol," his mother shook her hand politely, then leaned in towards John Senior and whispered out of the corner of her mouth, "The anti-Liz."

John was standing close enough to Carol to overhear her comment and immediately scowled, "Not tonight, Mother," he stared at her. "Not tonight."

"Okay, okay," she threw her hands up into the air in mock surrender.

"Thank you."

"Come on, Carol," Danielle locked arms with John's mother and eyed John briefly, "Why don't you show me _all_ of John's baby pictures?"

"Ooh…" Carol twisted her body around to look at Danielle and nodded incredulously. "I like you."

"If you like me, you'll adore my friend…" she trailed off, looking around. "Julia?"

"I think she went looking for my brother's room," John offered.

"Well, she's bound to find him," his father shrugged. "He's been holed up in there all morning."

* * *

Julia paced through the hallway, searching for any clues as to which room belonged to Matt. She heard the dull crackle of a radio and her feet carried her in its direction.

She knocked twice on the white-coated maple door sharply.

"Come in…" a deep, male voice called out, slightly muffled by the door.

Julia turned the brass door knob and let herself into the room.

"Hey, I'm looking for…" she began, but was abruptly cut off.

"John?" the young man swiveled his computer chair around to face her. "He's probably in his room down the hall. Second door on the right," he concluded and turned back around towards the screen.

"What makes you think I'm looking for John?" Julia crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly.

"Because you're the girlfriend he's been talking non-stop about… the golden girl, the wrestler," the young man rolled his eyes and banged both palms down on his desk. "Not to mention the fact that you're the reason I have some strange girl," he whirled back towards her, his green eyes filled with anger. "Who is probably some really weird, loner chick, taking over my bedroom for the weekend." He paused for a moment of deeply strained thought and spoke again, "Yes. That's about it."

"Number one," Julia stepped forward, slightly annoyed by his verbal attack on her best friend, not to mention herself. "Little brother syndrome much? How old are you, anyway?"

"One year older than you," he replied bitterly. "What's your point?"

"Yeah, grow up," Julia rolled her eyes. "And by the way," she extended her hand outward to him in a surprisingly polite gesture. "Julia Dottrina, Danielle Landon's best friend. Nice to make you feel like an ass."

John's younger brother's gaze fell to his feet as he turned a light shade of red in embarrassment.

"Oh, um… yeah. Thanks for that," he shook her hand quickly.

"Any time."

"I'm Matt, by the way."

"I know," Julia nodded. "Look," her expression turned serious for a moment. "I didn't come up here to just tag along, Matt. Danielle's pretty worried about making a good impression on you and your family."

"You're right," Matt conceded. "I shouldn't have snapped on you or buried her. Sorry about that…"

About what?" Julia shrugged innocently. "I didn't hear anything," she winked for effect.

"What were we talking about again?"

"How I am sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag because I brought one out of sympathy?"

"We definitely were not talking about that," Matt shook his head. "I'd much rather you not…"

"Listen, Matt," she cleared her throat. "I know that you don't really understand the way I operate yet, but the last thing I care about it what other people think…"

"So then don't view it as an opinion," he shrugged. "Think of it as an order. You are sleeping in the bed…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Julia's arms flailed through the air and then she shot him an angry look. "Did you just give me an order?"

"Yes… I believe I did."

* * *

"This is the first picture we ever took of John," Carol beamed proudly down at the worn black scrapbook in her hands. "This must have been April 28, 1977. That was the day we brought him home from the hospital," she informed her, gingerly turning the page. "And here's Steve with John as a baby…"

Danielle couldn't help but fuss over his scrapbook; she thought it was absolutely adorable.

"And here's his birth announcement," Carol laughed. "Bright blue with a white trim. I think our family and friends got sick of the color blue after a while."

"Five boys?" Danielle marveled. "How did you handle it?"

"Patience, love…" she admitted and then chuckled, "And a lot of chocolate."

She was definitely getting used to John's mother in a good way. The woman was smart, witty, and hilarious!

"So why was the second son given the title of namesake? Why not the first?"

"Well, I think we were so thrilled that Steve was healthy that we wanted to just give him a nice name. Then when I was pregnant with John, his father brought it up."

"John Felix Anthony Cena, Jr," Danielle rattled off dramatically. "Such a big name for such a little boy."

"Yes, it was," she sighed, picking up his wrestling scrapbook, "But not anymore."

"You raised a wonderful young man, Carol," Danielle stated sincerely.

"Thank you, dear, believe me… it was hard work," she nodded, placing a hand on Danielle's arm. "BELIEVE ME."

"Fireworks?" she arched an eyebrow.

"Yes, fireworks. He once used too much copper and it exploded on him," Carol chuckled, rapidly turning pages and then stopping. She pointed to one of the many pictures, "His hair was green for a month!"

"Green hair… and MC Hammer pants?" Danielle giggled uncharacteristically.

Neither of the women were paying attention, as they were both in hysterics, and didn't even notice John's entrance into the room.

"Mom, Danielle, Dad's barbequing and he wants to know what…wait," John did a double take at first sight of them. "Danielle? Are you… giggling?"

"Shut up, Vanilla Ice," she retorted sarcastically. "I've seen the pictures… I have the proof."

"Mom…" he whined.

"Don't be ridiculous, John. Now, what does your father want?"

"Burger or hot dog?"

"Burger… did he start on anything else?" she asked suspiciously.

"No, mom."

"Figures," she rolled her eyes. "We'll have to eat our plates as dessert now…"

"Actually," John interred, "Danielle made some stuff last night and they're in an ice chest outside at the moment," John countered triumphantly.

"You cook?" Carol turned to her and asked, surprised.

"I think that's the only reason your son sticks around," she mused.

"That's not true!" he protested. "But it helps…"

Danielle smacked him sharply on the arm, "Jerk."

"What?!?"

"You then, Mr. Cena, can eat your plate for all I…"

"_Did you just give me an order?" a shrill voice echoed through the house._

"_Yes," a stubborn male voice retorted. "I believe I just did."_

Carol picked up on their concerned looks and immediately questioned them. "Should I be concerned?"

Soon though, she found herself trailing her son and his girlfriend up the stairs.

"Very," Danielle said simply, bounding up the stairs.

Approaching Matt's open door, their feet barely touched the floor in their complete silence. The scene unfolded before their eyes; Julia remarking on Matt's disrespectful and chauvinistic ways, Matt remarking on her overtly feminist attitude.

Even though she would most likely be able to intervene, both were strong-willed individuals and Matt was much larger than she was, quite obviously.

Even John was hesitant about getting involved in this one. He could easily deal with his younger brother and his antics, but he had enough dealings with women to know that when they were pissed off, you cut your losses and moved on.

Matthew Cena was about to learn that lesson the hard way.

The voice started to escalate to an alarming tone and John's brother was beginning to turn a fiery shade of red as he stepped toward Julia, his nose nearly touching hers.

A horrifying chain of events was surely about to begin.

Matt's chest puffed outwards and his jaw clenched, along with his fists. Julia stood taller than before and dug her heels into the ground.

A few moments later, there was a crack of flesh against flesh, bone against bone, a shrill scream, and the dull thud of a body hitting the floor.

* * *

**A/N: Dun-dun-dun. I thought this was a good cliff-hanger. What did you think?**

**Please review to let me know...**

**...and once again, please check out She's a Rebel. I promise it's good. Please feed the feedback monster :-O on that one too, it likes some attention every now and then.**

** Danielle **


	8. Chapter 8

"Oh my God," Danielle panicked, dropping to her knees. "I didn't mean to… I'm so sorry."

That was the end of it. John's parents would now officially despise her and would never approve of her and John's relationship. With one tiny, yet thunderous outburst, she had ruined everything.

There was no longer any reason to worry about bringing John to meet her parents in two weeks; he most certainly would not want to have anything to do with her now.

The irony of the situation wasn't lost on her, but it wasn't exactly humorous to her either. She had poked fun at John for nearly losing his temper with her brother and had not found it the least bit funny when he had cracked a joke about one of his brothers punching her.

In actuality, quite the opposite had just occurred.

Danielle powered her first straight into the jaw of Matthew Cena and knocked him out cold.

"Matt," she knelt beside his tanned shoulders, cupping his face in her hand. "Please wake up, I'm so sorry."

"Danielle," John spoke softly, placing a strong hand on her collarbone.

"No, John," she shrugged him off. "I want to make sure he's okay."

"Danielle," he repeated again with a hint of urgency in his voice this time. "Mom and Dad will take care of him. Baby, come on. I think we should take a walk."

She looked over his shoulder, her hazel eyes glazed over by the tears threatening to fall. John's blue eyes returned her gaze, instantly softening from turquoise to sky blue, pleading with her to leave.

Danielle nodded solemnly and trailed John out the door, into his room. She caught a quick look of the trophies and plaques on his walls, but was once again knocked back into reality by the situation at hand.

"I know that right now, you're probably going crazy in that head of yours," John began, shutting the door swiftly.

All she could do was nod in response and sink into the floor, which doubled as his bed.

"But I don't blame you for what you did," he added, wrapping his arm around her torso as he joined her.

"How can you not?" she questioned his honesty, staring at her knees.

"Because you were right to protect your best friend… to be honest, I was right behind you. You just got there first. And Matt? Well, he has problems controlling his temper. He means well, Danielle, he really does. It's just that sometimes…"

"…He loses it?" she offered. "But I still had no reason to hit him."

John stood up sharply and walked a few feet to the window, staring aimlessly into the front yard.

"I'm sure you're angry too," she squeaked out, her voice barely a whisper.

She was so frustrated with herself. All she wanted to do was fit in and make them like her. After all of the times she had tried to sustain John's often-volatile temper, she couldn't even control her own.

"He would have," John's empty voice interrupted her thoughts.

"He would have what?"

"Hit her," he added, turning around. "He would have hit her, Danielle."

* * *

"MATTHEW CENA!" John Senior bellowed at his slightly woozy son. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I don't know, Dad," he replied, rubbing his sore jaw. "I just lost it."

"You're right, Matthew," his mother chimed in dryly. "You've lost your damn mind. If Danielle…"

"Can we stop talking about her for one second, for Christ's sake?!?"

"Matt, I understand that you aren't really taking to this idea of giving up your room," Carol stated empathetically. "But I was the one who asked if she wanted some company, just so she'd feel comfortable."

"Mom!"

"I understand it makes you uncomfortable, but it's too late now. Try being unselfish for once… please."

* * *

They sat in opposite corners of the room for a while; she was on her back, palms down, staring at the ceiling, as he was losing his focus out the window.

Danielle began to wonder if John really believed what he had said. It echoed in her mind. _"He would have hit her." _From the way he was staring and the emptiness emanating from his body, she realized it was the truth, despite his fondest wishes that it wasn't.

As strong as he acted, she knew John was just as mentally drained as she was at the moment. He was always her rock and her confidant; there was no better man in her eyes than he, but now, he needed her. So for that small fraction of time, Danielle decided that she needed to be the strong one.

For him.

His blue eyes found themselves lost somewhere in the seemingly perpetual depths of the green sea outside, each blade of grass swaying lightly in the bitter winter air.

Matt was his younger brother and he'd promised himself that he'd always keep an eye on him, but John never fully understood that he'd eventually have to break that promise. Not so soon, anyway.

Still entranced within his thoughts, John felt a pair of soft, loving arms slide around his abdomen and lock around him tightly, a warm body pressed against his spine.

No words needed to be spoken at that moment. There was a mutual comprehension of the mixed emotions that had somehow, quite recently, spiraled out of control. They were no longer John Cena, WWE Champion, and Danielle Landon, "The Rebel," two unique individuals. John and Danielle had become ordinary, just a boy and a girl trying to work through their problems, at risk of being swallowed whole by their emotions.

"When Matt was born, Mom and Dad made me promise that I would always protect him, no matter what," John interrupted the deafening silence in the room, closing his eyes as he recalled the memory. "When we were younger, I came to his defense, taking out the bully that picked on him mercilessly. I used to wrestle him in the ring in the backyard, teaching him all I knew afterwards."

"You were an amazing older brother," Danielle nuzzled into the white and navy mesh of his Cowboys jersey.

"But I've failed him, Danielle," he shook his head, reaching for her soft hands and prying them off his body. "I've failed him," he repeated again in disbelief, turning around to face her. "When did he become the bully? When did he decide it was okay to lay his hand on a woman?"

"John," she touched his cheek sadly. "It's not your fault."

"Danielle," his hand rose to meet hers on his skin and held onto it as he lowered it to his side. "Where was I to stop him?"

* * *

Julia had fled to the kitchen as soon as Danielle had left the room. She needed some time to collect her thoughts after nearly getting knocked out by Matt Cena.

The chances of being left alone disappointed her with a knock on the wall. Turning around, she caught a glimpse of Matt, the man who had come so close to hitting her a little over thirty minutes ago.

"Come to finish the job?" Julia sniped viciously.

"No, I came to apologize again… I deserve whatever you've got to throw at me," he pulled a chair opposite her and sat down. "Hit me with whatever you've got."

"Then I'd be no better than you."

"You already are, Julia," he shrugged. "It makes no difference."

"Look, it's obvious you have aggression issues. How am I qualified to tell you that? Well," she began glancing around nervously. "I took anger management classes for two years. I used to let my frustration get the best of me, too, before."

"Yeah," he nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. "I've had a few problems with that…"

"Not to intrude, but I can help you. If you want, that is."

"Would you?"

"Do I ever back down from a challenge?" she asked, placing her palm under her chin.

"Good point."

* * *

"You had a life, sweetheart. You're almost twenty eight years old and he's twenty three. No one expected you to be his keeper," Danielle tried to explain, but John's head still dipped dangerously lower and lower.

"I don't know, Danielle. I just… don't know," he released her hand and made his way towards the door. A thought then struck him and he pivoted sharply. "I think we could use some air, let's take a walk."

She nodded silently and followed him out the door and then down the stairs. He placed a finger on his lips and cracked open the squealing screen door. Now a few feet ahead of his girlfriend, he paused to wait for her.

"You want to take a tour of the yard?"

"Sure," she smiled sincerely, lacing her fingers in his.

They walked a few feet past the house and came to a dirty circle, around ten feet in diameter.

"This was where we used to launch our homemade fireworks from," John laughed. "Dad made us get rid of the grass, so we didn't light the whole street on fire."

"Once again," Danielle chuckled, straightening her black pea coat. "Remind me… no fourth of July parties with you."

"None outside, anyway. We don't need the outdoors for fireworks," he replied suggestively, leading her to the other side of the house.

"Hornball," she mused, bumping her shoulder into his arm.

"Yeah?" he arched an eyebrow and stopped to face her. "Well, having such a beautiful girlfriend makes me this way," he smirked, backing towards the stack of firewood a few feet away.

"You're still not getting any tonight, John," she shook her head cautiously at him.

"Who said I was talking about you?" he asked innocently, drawing a strong reaction out of her.

She lunged towards him and he grabbed her at the waist, wrapping his arms around her body and lifting her into the air.

Danielle tried to counter by wrapping her legs around his waist and bending backwards to throw off his balance. She succeeded in her plan, but wound up on her back, extremely close to the logs.

"Now I've had some girls do some very crazy things, but… that takes the cake," John laughed next to her."

"SHUT. UP."

"Hey!" he protested. "You're mean."

"Deal with it."

"Do I have a choice?" he asked.

"Not really," she shook her head at him.

"I guess I'll choose to deal with it then."

"Good answer," Danielle laughed, staring up at the darkening blue sky. "You know," she started, her tone turning serious, "I think I'm going to miss it here."

"Miss it here?" John turned over onto an elbow to stare at her lithe form. "Why would you miss it here?"

"Well, I am graduating soon… and there's always the possibility of going into wrestling. Chances are… I won't be here forever. Don't get me wrong, I'm not leaving Massachusetts anytime soon, but it's crossed my mind."

"What's stopping you from leaving?" he asked her.

"Nothing," she sighed before rotating her face towards his, "Except you."

* * *

**A/N: Cliffhanger solved. W****hat do you think?**

**Thanks to: MissPhilippinesSuperStar, AznIntegra, Enigmatic Lotus Leaf, and ginny-potter-07.**

**And also, thank you for checking out "She's a Rebel." It means a lot to me.**

** Danielle **


	9. Chapter 9

She'd been anticipating this day for nearly four years now and Danielle didn't think that there were many other days in which the butterflies in her stomach were flitting about so fast.

For starters, her first match was at 11am and her last match was in face the last match of the afternoon. This meant either one of two things, a: the WWE scouts would no longer be as interested by then, seeing that they'd have gotten their fill of talent or B they would run out of time and she would never get her shot. Hopefully, option A would be the case and she'd get the chance to change their minds.

The matches had been running slightly long and her fellow wrestlers were reporting that the WWE representatives weren't pleased by this. Some of the guys came back, heads hung low at their less than best efforts, and others overly confident.

The clock ticked past 11:30 and her match hadn't begun yet.

"Landon? Whitaker?" a voice bellowed from the doorway.

"Yeah?" Cassie Whitaker answered with an attitude, still getting into character. The truth was the Cassie was one of the sweetest people on the face of the planet.

"Yeah?" Danielle responded, looking up from her steel chair.

"You're up."

Cassie made her way to the ring, draped in a black, glittery, silk robe. When she got to the ring, she bent low to the rope and ducked through, showing a copious amount of cleavage in the process.

Danielle took one deep breath, her heart racing, and her head pounding. It was her time to shine and her destiny was now within her porcelain hands.

Her time was now.

* * *

She ran briskly to the ring and the dove between the ring apron and bottom rope. Danielle whipped her blonde tresses back to give everyone a good look at her face and then hopped to her feet, ready to rumble.

Before her match, she'd spent an hour agonizing over her ring attire. White was the classic "face" color and black was the classic "heel" color. The Rebel was neither face nor heel at the moment, she was just herself… so what would she wear?

The answer was simple: she'd push the limit.

Her black pants were PVC, in order to stay firmly on her body, with red outlined diamonds cut out of the sides. Her red tank just touched the top of the pants' waistband, ensuring she would not overexpose herself, but allowing everyone to see her moves. Then again, it was hard to miss the cherry red boots, she adorned.

The match went as smoothly as could be expected, with Danielle being dominated in the first few minutes of her match. The tables would turn, however, after reversing Cassie's attempt at a "down in flames" into a fisherman's suplex. From there on, the match was hers for the taking.

She powered Cassie into the corner and finished with her recently-named Top Rope Tumble, silently holding for ten seconds and then going in for the kill.

1-2-3. She had won.

One match down, one to go.

* * *

Her second, a mixed match, came two hours later. This time, though, it was against Amanda and Brent.

She was similarly put over, however, this time the Top Rope Tumble wasn't involved. She was simply trying to flee the ring to help her partner, James, who had been knocked outside the ring, when Brent grabbed her by the hair.

Danielle would escape his attempt at a chokeslam and make her way into the Whirlwind, pinning him desperately a few moments later.

That was it. She'd given it all she had, blood, sweat, and tears. Now it was all in fate's hands.

Danielle made her way to the waiting area, while the scouts began to talk. One by one, the participating wrestlers were all called in and evaluated, then signed or turned away.

Danielle Landon sat down on the floor, back to the wall, furiously sipping her water bottle in preparation for the longest wait of her life.

* * *

"Landon," a voice called an hour later. To her though, it seemed like it had been a lifetime. "You're up."

She followed the same man as earlier that afternoon out the door and down the hallway, into Walter Kowalski's office. The wrestlers seldom saw this room, unless there was a problem, and Danielle hadn't been in it for two and a half years.

The man, who was dark-haired and in his forties with a muscular build, knocked on the door before opening it.

"Mr. McMahon, Danielle Landon."

Her eyes raced around the office and found Kowalski and Vince McMahon sitting side by side, as the door closed behind her.

"Ms. Landon," Vince gestured from behind the cherry wood desk, "Please, have a seat."

"Yes, sir," she nodded and sat down in a chair across from them.

"I must say," Vince began, sliding on his glasses and looking over his report. "Your reputation precedes you."

"I hope it's a good one, sir," she answered politely.

"Well, let's take a look," he cleared his throat and scanned the sheet. "The power Danielle Landon possesses is what a fan might expect of the dominant guys in the business. Her intensity in the ring drew me in, keeping me focused on her movements at all times. Obviously, she is definitely a young woman the men will go crazy for, but her awe-inspiring acrobatic finishers will appeal to even the most die-hard fans of the WWE," he concluded, placing the paper on the surface of the desk. "And I have three more like that. I watched both matches myself, Ms. Landon, and I was very impressed. It's very hard, quite frankly, to find young women who are both talented and beautiful."

"Thank you, sir," she smiled proudly.

"You're quite welcome. We need a woman in the WWE who will pose a threat to both Lita and Trish… not to mention the title. I didn't expect to come here today and find that girl."

Her face fell slightly.

"But I found her in you, Ms. Landon," Vince flashed a smile at her. "I'd like you to spend a month in OVW to hone your skills for a little while next month, after you graduate. We'll want you on the roster in June," he concluded.

"I'm going to be a WWE Diva?" her heart raced in the confines of her chest.

"If you'll sign here," he nodded, pushing a contract forward.

"Walter?" she turned to her mentor.

"I read it over, Danielle," he assured her. "It's solid."

She grabbed a pen and signed on every single dotted line.

"Danielle Landon," Vince rose from his chair and extended a hand, which she shook firmly, "Welcome to the WWE."

* * *

She had called Tom, Rachel, and Mike to tell them the good news. All three were thrilled with the signing and were anticipating seeing her on Saturday.

The next call she placed was to Kasey Walker, who had taken a leave of absence from school. Her mother had fallen ill in England and she had taken her finals early in order to be with her. Danielle hadn't spoken to Kasey in a while, but she was ecstatic to hear the good news. It was the first speck of hope she'd seen in a long time.

The last call she had placed was to Julia. Although she wasn't quite sure what her best friend had said, it sounded like a few words placed intermittently between screams. One thing was for certain, though, Julia was in a great place right now.

Her entire weekend stay at the Cena household had begun with a face-off against Matt Cena. Contrary to how they'd first met, though, the family was surprised to find Julia and Matt sharing his bed on her last morning in West Newbury, albeit fully-clothed. Danielle's big news was now the icing on the cake.

However, Danielle's greatest challenge came when she hit the freeway: not getting pulled over for speeding. Weaving in and out of the lanes wasn't an option, so she floored it all the way to John Senior's house in her cop-magnet of a Civic.

When she pulled into the gravel-coated driveway, John and his father were sitting on the porch waiting for her. As soon as he caught sight of her, he jumped to his feet and hopped off the steps.

Forgetting to shut her car door, she took off sharply towards him, desperate to reach him as fast as she could.

"Well?" John looked at her anxiously, struggling to remain calm.

"I did it, John!" Danielle exclaimed brightly, her blonde tresses waving around her as she ran across the expansive lawn.

John took off from the porch to meet her.

"I did it!" she yelled again, feeling his muscular arms wrap around her stomach, pulling her close to him, as he twirled her around.

"I am so proud of you, baby," he said, squeezing her body tighter. Finally, he placed her lightly back on her feet, leaning in to place his forehead against hers. "I really am, Danielle," he assured her, gazing into her gold-flecked hazel eyes.

"Thank you," she smiled, closing her eyes.

"So what now?"

"Now, I kiss the ground and thank God I made it," she laughed.

"Well now," John smirked at her. "I certainly think that my lips are better than dirt.

"Notice," Danielle emphasized the word poignantly and scrunched her freckled nose at him, "How the key words were 'I' and 'think?'"

"The power's getting to your head already? Damn, you're rising fast!" he mused sarcastically.

"You know… I was going to pose a celebration tonight. Just the two of us," she shrugged innocently, pulling away from him and heading back towards the Civic, "But now I'm not so sure I want to celebrate with a party pooper like you."

John shook his head at his girlfriend, half disappointed, half laughing.

She knew exactly how to play him.

"Damn, girl," he pulled off his Red Sox hat and rubbed his short hair, before putting it back on his head. "You really know how to get to me, don't you?"

"It's my job to understand people's weaknesses."

"Oh yeah?" John arched an eyebrow at her, grabbing a hold of her wrist and gently bringing her to face him. "So what's my weakness?"

Danielle grinned smugly at her boyfriend and concluded simply, "Me."

"Well now," he chuckled at her bluntness and pulled her into him until he could snake his arm around the small of her back, then bent down and pressed his lips on hers.

She slid backwards slightly, momentarily breaking their lips apart, "I thought you didn't want to celebrate?"

"Let's just say… you're my weakness."

* * *

**A/N: I hope you like this chapter all... thanks for all of your support. I love you guys a lot and it's because of you, I get my inspiration.**

** Danielle **


	10. Chapter 10

"You're going to wear that to meet my parents?" Danielle placed her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend, clad in a Red-Sox jersey and baggy shorts.

"What?!?" he asked, looking at his attire and then back at her. "What?"

"Lose the jersey, John," she urged him. "Lose it… now."

"I thought you liked the Sox?" he shot her an annoyed look. No one messed with his Red Sox.

"I like the Mets, John."

"So?" he shrugged. "We share a common bond…" John added, gesturing to the framed picture of the BoSox's 2004 ALCS celebration on his wall.

"My father's a Yankees fan," she cocked her head to the side and eyed him.

"Off it goes then."

* * *

Six hours later, it was just past six PM and john pulled up to Danielle's modest childhood home. 

It was absolutely nothing like his. There were few trees, aside from the three evergreens and four taller trees at the end of the backyard, which was closely guarded by a while fence with thin slats.

Behind that ivory border lay a pool off to the side, a small shed in the back corner, and a wooden swing set about thirty feet directly behind the deck. Unlike the Cena house, the home sat on about ½ acre of land.

Danielle stared longingly out the windows at the white house with black shutters.

"It used to be light blue."

John hadn't been paying attention when she began to speak, but turned his attention towards her, "What?"

"The house…" she reminisced, "It used to be light blue. There were white shutters and we had a screen door. My favorite part about the house," she continued her walk down memory lane as she got out of her Civic and closed the door behind her, "Were the rose bushes on the side of the house. There was a pink one and a red one."

John joined her on the other side of the car and followed her gaze, "I don't see any roses…"

"Dad cut them down when I was eight. I am allergic to bees," Danielle informed him quietly and then turned back to the house. "It started attracting a lot of them and then my parents feared I'd get stung one day because I picked the flowers so often," she recalled sadly. "I did build a garden in the backyard and it's still there," she smiled. "But Samantha takes care of it now…"

"Mom! Look who's here!" a shrill voice called from inside the house, through the open door.

"Speak of the devil," Danielle muttered. "Or rather, his spawn…"

"Your sister?" John nodded knowingly.

"My sister," she mumbled some more and then quickly shifted tone, "Hey, Sam!"

Her sister was already making her way towards her and John.

"Hello," her sister smiled deviously at John.

Danielle elbowed her sharply in her side, "Sam, this is John Cena," she introduced her with an annoyed glare. "My _boyfriend_."

"Ah, nice to meet you. Mike's already told me so much about you," she forced a smile, twirling a lock of brown hair around her index finger.

"Danielle!" her mother's voice echoed through the mild spring air.

All three heads turned in the direction of the front door, where the girls' mother stood. Danielle had a good three inches on her petite frame and looked nothing like her mother. Mrs. Landon had chocolate brown eyes and a highly-freckled face, with deep auburn, shoulder-length hair.

"Hi, Mom," Danielle plastered on a smile and walked towards her mother with John in tow.

Her mother embraced her at the door and released her death grip on her daughter when she noticed John behind her.

"Oh! You must be John!" Mrs. Landon smiled brightly, throwing her arms up in the air.

"Yes, hello, Mrs. Landon," he replied politely.

"Please, call me Susan," she fanned her hand at him and hugged his towering frame. "So good to finally meet you."

"You too, Susan," he answered, catching Danielle's eyes with a pleading look.

"Mom, why don't we go inside?" Danielle offered in an attempt to peel her off of her boyfriend.

"Yes, yes," she agreed. "Come in, come in."

Samantha stepped in front of her mother and led everyone inside.

Danielle leaned in towards John and mumbled, "She's talking doubles today. That means she's stressed out as hell…"

Her father came into clear view and she quickly ran towards him.

"Daddy!" she beamed, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Hey, Princess," her father replied cheerfully, returning her grin. "How are you? Behaving yourself?"

"Of course," she laughed, turning towards John. "There's someone I'd like you to meet, Dad," she added, pulling him by the wrist to her father. "Dad, this is…"

"John Cena," he nodded and shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you, sir," John returned the shake firmly.

"David," he stated simply. "You're making me feel old."

John took a good look at her father. David was two inches shorter than his son, with graying temples, however, his presence was powerful in the room. He was also definitely older than Susan by quite a few years, but it seemed as though his children and grandson kept him young.

"You are old, Dad," Samantha smiled curtly at her father.

He barely gave Danielle's little sister the time of day. She was spiteful and unnecessarily rude, something no seventeen year old should be. The girl was attractive for her age and John was sure that her striking emerald eyes grabbed her plenty of male attention. Then again, green was also the color of jealousy, something she certainly possessed when it came to her older sister.

"And you wonder, Sam, why I am going gray?" David shot back at his daughter. "Seventeen years of _this_."

"Almost eighteen… in another month," she corrected him, flipping her long brown locks out of her eyes.

"If you live that long…"

"Alright," Susan attempted to cut through the awkwardness clearly hanging in the room. "I think we can sit down to dinner now…"

"Good idea," Mike agreed and got up from the couch and nudged his youngest sister forward. "Let's go, Sam…"

* * *

"So, John," Susan Landon placed her fork down on her plate with a light clink and looked over at her daughter's boyfriend. "Where did you go to school?" 

"Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts," he replied before he took another forkful of pasta to his mouth.

"That's nice," she nodded. "What did you major in?"

"So you're a gym rat like my daughter," she mused, nonchalantly cutting at a piece of chicken on her plate.

Danielle dropped her knife and fork on the table with a loud, resonating thud and glared angrily at Susan, "Mom!"

It was no secret within the family that Susan Landon disapproved of her daughter's time at the gym, sighting that a young woman should be worrying about other things. She didn't mind her spending one or two days there, but the six days Danielle frequented the gym were too much for her liking.

"What time is it?" Justin's voice broke through the tension in the room.

"It's eight o'clock, sweetheart," Rachel answered.

"Yay!" he exclaimed gleefully and ran towards the TV, clearly in view while in the family room.

"Sweetheart, what are you doing?" his mother asked confusedly.

"Turning on Smackdown!" he smiled brightly at her.

Danielle immediately gasped and subsequently swallowed some of her food whole. Her fork hit the plate with a loud clank and she began coughing in an attempt to catch some breaths of air.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen and on behalf of myself, Michael Cole, and my partner, Tazz, welcome to WWE Smackdown! Tonight, we are live from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a sold out crowd at the Wachovia Spectrum," the voice of Smackdown announcer, Michael Cole, blared from the television screen.

"You still let him watch this?" Susan scowled in disapproval.

"Well, he sees his grandfather's old tapes," Rachel tried to explain, when Tazz's voice cut in this time.

"Tonight is the night we've all been waiting for. JBL will take on WWE Champion John Cena in a rematch for the title… in a fifteen foot steel cage!"

Susan glanced at Danielle's worried face and then at John.

"You're doing what?!?"

* * *

John didn't have the slightest notion of what to do. Her mother was clearly beyond a rational discussion and he was clearly the topic of interest. 

He grabbed Justin and Mike to head outside for a football toss in an effort to drag himself out of the room.

Once outside, he completely lost all concentration. John knew that Danielle's parents would have to find out sooner or later, but he never wanted it to happen this way. Susan would never be able to watch the gravity-defying acrobatics that Danielle would soon become known for on the rise.

Still lost in his thoughts, a hard hit to the stomach knocked him back into reality.

John looked at his feet and caught sight of the slightly dirt-speckled football.

"John!" Justin giggled. "You're supposed to catch it!"

"Sorry, buddy," he laughed. "I'll concentrate this time," he added half-heartedly, tossing him back the football.

But the truth was that John Cena could only concentrate on the yelling that was audible, even outside the house, beyond the front door.

"Yo, John," Mike called to him, sending the pigskin his way. "It's not your fault, man."

"If it wasn't for me…"

"She would be one lonely girl," Mike finished for him. "Let me tell you something, John. She's been so unhappy the past year and a half. She lost the love of her life to another woman and she missed out on tryouts a few years ago," he treaded over the lush green grass and sat down in front of a tall birch tree, staring up at John. "Her heart's no in school anymore… at all."

"Don't say that, Mike," John shook his head sadly and settled in on another tree trunk beside him. "I feel like it's my fault."

Mike felt for the poor guy. The one girl he loved could never live a true existence and lies filled her reality. He had come into her life when she was on the rise, the most dangerous part of her existence. Danielle's lies had finally caught up with her.

"Nah, man," he assured him. "Her heart lies in wrestling… it was inevitable. More importantly, John, her heart lies with you."

John bobbed his head up and down in understanding. Despite their volatile meeting, John Cena and Michael Landon had come to a common conclusion.

He slapped her brother on the shoulder in appreciation.

"Thanks, man."

"No problem," he answered honestly and smiled once again, catching the football his son had thrown at him.

The peace, however, was short lived as a rough door slam brought them back to their senses.

Danielle appeared in front of the door, steaming over the confrontation with her mother. She checked her pockets for her keys and the turned her gaze towards John.

"John! Let's go," she raged on, flipping him the keys. "Mike," she approached her brother warily. "We've got to run, I'm sorry I can't stay…"

"Danielle, I get it. It's okay," he hugged her tightly to his chest and then released her, "Go on… I'll see you in OVW, alright?"

"Alright," she obliged, "I'll see you around."

John unlocked the car from the ground and then chased after her to the Civic.

"Danielle…" he tried to soothe her anger, but she was too far gone. "Danielle, what happened?"

She whipped open the car door and stared at him over the roof of the car, "She knows, John. She knows."

The pair slid into the car and John looked over at her, "What does she know?"

Danielle sighed heavily as she stared blankly out the windshield.

"Everything."

* * *

**A/N: Per usual, I hope you enjoy this chapter. **

**Danielle's life is about to turn upside down... she thought that being the girlfriend of the WWE Champion was hard, but now... life's about to get crazy.**

**Danielle **


	11. Chapter 11

The morning sunlight stretched out over the hotel room like a warm blanket, coating everything inside. It was a complete change from the previous evening, where a storm had brewed inside the Landon household.

Susan knew absolutely everything: the gym, the contract, the seventeen years of lies she'd been fed… all of it. Danielle's father couldn't even stop the hurricane from tearing through the room; it was just too late.

She had refused to return to Boston that night, too emotionally beaten from the argument and too afraid to be alone. Instead, they ventured to John's hotel room in Philadelphia, where they checked in early for Tuesday night's Smackdown taping.

Four hours passed by agonizingly until Danielle finally drifted to sleep, continuously haunted by her mother's words.

"_You could have done something with your life, Danielle. You were top ten in your class, a nearly perfect GPA, and we expected you to graduate BU with your degree, then head to law school. But you chose THIS. You chose HIM."_

She hadn't chosen wrestling, contrary to what her mother believed; it had chosen her. She never asked to like wrestling, but it was everything to her now.

And John?

Danielle really hadn't chosen him either. Maybe she was just fated to meet the man who would free her from a false sense of reality. Maybe it was pure happenstance… she wasn't sure. One thing was for certain though, other than Julia… John was the only person she had, and that scared her more than anything.

John struggled to open his eyes, completely blinded by the rays peeking through the curtains. He rose from the bed and with eyes half closed, shut the blinds, nearly suffocating the sunlight in the room. Quietly, he slipped back into the bed and gazed over at the work of perfection on his right.

She was still lost in dreamland at the moment, completely oblivious to his stare. The slight amount of light in the room made her glow like an angel, her porcelain skin bronzed over, her caramel locks gleaming in the rays.

For the longest time, John was without a woman who understood him and his lifestyle, yet on this day, marking his twenty-eight year of life, he found himself completed. He had the WWE Title in his possession and was with the woman of his dreams, who not only understood everything he was, but lived the same life too. He only wished that he could give her that same sense of completion, as well.

John was sure that Michael, Rachel, Justin, and Tom were still on her side and it was only going to be a few days until her father picked up the phone. His thoughts drifted to Susan. What could she possibly be disappointed in? Her eldest daughter was quickly rising to the top, set to live out her dream. Why couldn't she just be happy for her daughter? College graduation was coming up for Danielle, as well, but would Susan even be there?

The warm body beside him began to stir gently and Danielle's eyes fluttered open.

"Hey," she yawned groggily.

"Good morning," John smiled over at her.

"How'd you sleep, birthday boy?" Danielle asked sweetly, snuggling into his bare chest.

"Pretty good," he replied, sliding his right arm around her shoulders. "I'm happier awake, though."

"Same here, baby. Same here…"

"Did you get any sleep at all last night?" John asked concernedly.

"Some," she sighed heavily. "Well, enough, anyway."

He slid the fallen spaghetti strap of her black camisole back onto her shoulder and kissed it lightly.

"I know that last night wasn't easy, sweetheart, but I also know you," John brushed away a strand of her honey-colored hair from her face, "And just how strong you are. You'll make it through this."

"I just don't know if I want to… John, you and Jules are all I have left," Danielle frowned, looking up at him sadly.

"No, baby, we're not. You have your whole life and the WWE to look forward to."

"I guess that's true," she nodded.

"As much as I enjoyed my time in OVW, there's nothing like the big time. Nothing."

"I've still got graduation ahead of me, John. I just had gotten the tickets two days ago after class and they're still sitting on my counter at home, but no one is coming for me."

"Come on, Danielle," he soothed, rubbing his hand up and down her arm lightly. "Julia's going to be there too."

"And so will her brother and his girlfriend."

He hated seeing her like this… depressed, upset, and frustrated. John knew just how amazing her collage career had been and it was supposed to be celebrated on graduation day, yet now, there was no one for her to share it with.

"What day is it?" John asked, rising to a sitting position on the headboard.

"May twenty-first," Danielle replied, propping herself up on one elbow. "Why?"

"I'll be there," John smiled at her.

"You don't…" she immediately began to argue, but he silenced her with a finger to her lips.

"I want to."

For a moment, she was completely speechless… something that rarely ever happened. Then again, everything had changed the moment John Cena had walked into Danielle Landon's life. Suddenly, he was always in her head. At the first sign of struggle, John's voice would force her to press on and when the pain was too much to bare, he was always a phone call away.

Her world was titled and functioned only on spin since they'd met. Life had been moving so fast… she'd found a boyfriend, was on the way to the WWE, and now, graduation was just around the corner.

* * *

Thousands of black squares lined the air, tassels wavering through the wind. Finally, after the blood, swear, and tears she had thrown into her work, it was over. Four years had come and gone at last.

As enthralled as she was to leave, Danielle was often worried about what was next for her. At Boston University, she was within her comfort zone, she was safe. She knew where everything was and knew most of the people there. Life at BU was familiar. The WWE was the unknown, OVW even more so.

"Danielle!" a voice called to her and she turned in its direction.

Making his way through the dense crowd was John Cena, dressed in khaki slacks and a blue dress shirt.

"John!" she beamed excitedly, hiking up her gown to run towards him. Finding a clearing, she threw herself into his arms, resting her diploma on his neck. "I'm so glad you're here!"

His grip around her torso tightened as he momentarily lifted her off her feet into the air, before setting her back down lightly.

There it was… that feeling again. In that one moment, Danielle knew that everything would be okay.

In John's arms, she was safe.

* * *

**A/N: Alright, so it was a little short and I apologize, but I couldn't combine chapters. They didn't really go together.**

**Please, as always, let me know what you think.**

**I heart: ****MissPhilippinesSuperStar, Andyeascrewyou, and AznIntegra. You three rock.**

**If you want to rock as well and get a shout out... you MUST review. :-D**

** Danielle **


	12. Chapter 12

The weeks in Kentucky had flown by as quickly as a cyclone in tornado alley. Every morning, Danielle arose from the squeaky old bed in her hole-in-the-wall apartment and headed to OVW. The water was rarely warm, the nights rarely silent, and the air conditioning rarely working. Summers in Boston were hot, ones in Jersey were even worse, but Louisville took the cake and it was a hot, melted chocolate soup cake at that.

Her roommate was extremely sweet, but Danielle still missed John desperately. At the rate she was improving, it became increasingly clear that in less than a month, creative would bring her to the WWE. Unfortunately, she would be transferred to their flagship show, WWE Raw, to put her in a feud with Lita. There would be a greater chance of seeing John at Raw than in OVW, but it was a slim one, nonetheless.

Glancing in the mirror, Danielle touched the bruise on the back of her shoulder lightly and winced.

"Got a new battle scar?" her roommate laughed from the doorway.

"Nah," she returned the chuckle. "Just a little bruise."

"You know," Crystal moved over to check it out and added, "Rumor has it that you're going to be on Raw next week. Apparently, they just lost a Diva to an injury and need a new storyline ASAP!"

"Trish," Danielle nodded in concurrence. "She wrenched her shoulder pretty bad last night. I watched it too."

A buzzing sound from the end table interrupted the girls' conversation, drawing Danielle over to her nightstand and to her phone.

"Hello?"

"Ms. Landon, it's Vince McMahon."

"Oh," her eyes widened as she pointed to the phone and added enthusiastically, "Good morning, Mr. McMahon!"

"Good morning. I'm glad I caught you before you headed to training. I don't know if you caught last night's Raw, but Trish Stratus injured her shoulder last night."

Her grasp on the cell phone tightened, "Yes…"

"Good news is that she's going to be fine, but only after they remove some bone chips from inside her shoulder. However, Trish was in the middle of a feud with Lita, as you know, and we're going to need someone to keep that feud going…" he continued.

"I understand, sir."

"We'd like for you to join us on Raw this Monday, Ms. Landon. We'll need you to fly out immediately to Raleigh tonight and meet us here. You'll have a lot of work to do and little time to do it," Vince continued sternly.

"Absolutely!" Danielle beamed at Crystal.

"I figured as much. Your tickets are waiting for you at OVW. I booked them this morning. See you tomorrow morning, Danielle."

"Thank you, Mr. McMahon!" she replied graciously, ending the calling and placing her phone down on the end table.

Just eight hours later, Danielle would find herself in Raleigh, North Carolina, as the newest WWE Diva.

* * *

The doors of the RBC Center stood tall and intimidating, dangling her future right in front of her face. Here she was, a WWE Diva, on her feet and on her way. Pushing past the doors, she was met by a few familiar faces. The first face was that of Randy Orton, who immediately took notice of her in the entrance way.

"Hey there," he tossed a cocky smirk in her direction as he smoothly strutted towards her. "Randy Orton, the Legend Killer… and you are?"

"Taken," she rolled her eyes at him noticeably and began to search for the woman now known as Lita.

"Wait, hold up," Randy called after her, his red Raw shirt tight against his bronze skin as he quickened his pace to catch her.

She whipped around abruptly, her caramel tresses following her movement, "What do you want, Orton?"

"I bet your boyfriend isn't a former WWE Champion like myself," he replied cockily.

"You're right," she relented and then returned a smirk. "Cause he's the current WWE Champion."

Randy's eyes widened greatly and he had to take a step back to regain his composure, "You're Danielle Landon? John's girlfriend?"

"Yes, it's nice to meet you, Orton," she laughed, shaking his outstretched hand. "Can you tell me where I can find Amy Dumas at the moment?"

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, shaking his head back and forth quickly in an attempt to clear his head. "Go down this hallway, make your first right, and she'll be in the women's locker room."

"Thank you," Danielle smiled at him, adjusting the duffel bag on her shoulder and headed down the hallway. Within moments, she found herself standing in front of the Raw Women's locker room.

She knocked sharply on the door.

"Come on in, we're all decent," a voice giggled.

Danielle would be anything it belonged to a blonde, even though she herself was one.

Pushing open the door, she noticed that it looked exactly as it did on TV, minus the usual abundance of Divas. Right at that moment, only Trist Stratus and Lita were in the room.

"Danielle?" Trish asked brightly, rubbing her arm sling gently.

"Yes," she answered. "That's me."

"Welcome to the WWE," she rushed over and threw her good arm around Danielle in a hug, which she returned.

"I'd hug you tighter, but I don't want to hurt you," Landon mused lightly.

"That's why I hugged you and not Amy," Trish joked playfully, punching Amy with her good arm.

"I'm glad to finally meet you, Danielle," she smiled shooting her and look and giving Danielle a hug. "See? I didn't kill her!"

"Yet," Danielle chuckled. "Just kidding. I'm really excited for my debut on Monday…"

"Me too," Amy concurred. "Did you hear the big news yet?"

"No. What's going on?"

"Well, the full results of the WWE draft won't be revealed until Monday, but it looks like the shows are swapping champions. Batista goes to Smackdown…"

Danielle's eyes lit up instantaneously like a candle, "And John Cena comes to Raw?!?"

"I figured you'd be stoked," Amy laughed. "Come on, sit down. We'll go over the angle for this week, 'k?"

"Sounds good to me," she shrugged and pulled up a folding chair.

"Ugh," Trish muttered in disgust. "I have to catch my plane home in two hours and I still have yet to pack. I'm gonna go. Catch ya later girlies," she waved and pushed through the doors.

"Bye, Trish," Amy waved and turned back to her future on-screen rival. "Monday's going to be a setup for the start of our rivalry. You're going to be in a match with Victoria and she's going to try and play you off like some weak rookie."

"Gotcha," Danielle nodded, excited at the possibility of her first televised match in the WWE.

"You're going to completely destroy her. I know you've been working on a submission move in OVW. How's that coming along?"

"Pretty good. My trainers down there said it was solid…"

"Good. You're going to make her tap. You're going to stand on the ropes to celebrate and I'm going to get pissed over it. You're going to come down and I will go to hit you with the title belt."

"Oh, how sweet of you," Danielle deadpanned.

"I know. Lita's a bitch," she mused. "Anyway, you duck and then kick me in the stomach. Then you'll hit the Top Rope Tumble finisher. HOWEVER, Edge will come down and attack you."

"To make the save and protect you… I see," Danielle nodded.

"Yes, but you're going to have a run-in with him before the show, where the fans realize that you're his ex-girlfriend whom he left for me."

"So basically, you feel threatened by me and I want revenge on you?"

"Exactamente."

"Es bueno," she laughed.

"You speak Spanish?" Amy's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Conversationally," she shrugged. "Anyway, the storyline sounds pretty good…"

"But I have one more part of the storyline that we need to go over. For your first tag match, you're going to wind up teaming with John on Monday night… main event."

"Main event?!? With John?!?" a smile shot across her face as quick as lightning.

"Yeah, he comes to save you when Edge tries to go for a spear and scares him out of the ring," Amy added. "They'll probably want you to be his girlfriend on-screen, as well. You'll wind up being a couple to rival me and Adam."

A knock rang through the room and Amy answered the door.

"Hey, Adam," Amy smiled at the blonde man, now in the doorway. "We were just talking about you!"

"Really… and who's we? You and your imaginary friend?" he arched an eyebrow and walked past her.

"Ugh, you're hysterical."

Danielle hopped to her feet and scurried over, extending a hand, "Hi, I'm Danielle Landon."

"Adam Copeland," he flashed a pearly smile back at her, shaking her hand warmly. "I was just coming in to discuss the promo we'll be cutting on Monday, so we can get to the matches tomorrow no problem."

"You'll have to bare with me, Adam. It's my first real promo," Danielle explained shyly.

"No worries," he patted her on the shoulder. "From what John tells me, you're a natural with a sharp tongue…"

She nodded and smirked slightly, "Like a razor."

"Ha!" he mused. "You'll be just fine."

* * *

All of Monday night, she and John were to be separated from each other. This, Stephanie McMahon had said, was in an effort to preserve the "raw emotion" in their reunion. Danielle just viewed it as torture.

"Hey, Danielle?" Amy peeked her head out from the bathroom door. "You ready?"

"I think so…" she nodded, smoothing down the shiny PVC of her wrestling pants. "What do you think of my outfit? Too much?"

Amy looked over her choice in wrestling attire carefully. The first thing Stephanie had suggested was to keep her blonde hair its shade and even brighten it up with some highlights. The blondes tended to have a more wholesome appearance, but Danielle's rebellious reputation preceded her. The first thing she wanted, and really the only thing she wanted, during that time, was red tips on the ends of her hair. Somewhat enthusiastically, Stephanie had agreed and began bonding with Danielle and her "creative mind."

As far as her wrestling clothes went, Danielle was asked to use the best possible judgment. The newest WWE Diva, Danielle Landon, was going to be the rebel of the WWE. She was the female version of DX, except without angering Vince McMahon. The point of her appearance was to confuse the fans as much as possible. Faces wore white, heels wore black, and red was the ultimate flip off to authority, so why not use them as much as possible? Her top was completely midriff baring, a tight white, PVC material with a black stripe down each side, laced up with a red tie. The same went for her pants, which slightly covered her black wrestling boots.

"It's very you," Amy concluded, laughing at her apparent nerves and walked over to sling an arm around her shoulder.

A loud rapping on the door quickly interrupted their conversation.

"Danielle," a male voice called, struggling to speak over the static of his walkie talkie. "You're on in five."

Amy pushed her forward, "Go! You're on!" she urged. "Go out there already. Show North Carolina that the Rebel's in town."

She let a smile grace her lips and then headed towards the door.

"Ow… watch where you're going," she sniped at the man who had just knocked her over.

"I should watch where I'm going?" he gaped at her angrily, running a hand through his golden blonde waves of hair. "Do you know who I am?"

Danielle looked up at him from the floor and did a double take.

"Edge?" she rose to her feet without his assistance.

"Danielle Landon," he scowled at her. "I never expected to see your face again."

She shot him an equally malicious glare and gritted her teeth, "Believe me, the feeling is mutual."

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I going after the title your little girlfriend has," she shrugged at him. "I'm on my way there. I have my first match tonight, but do me a favor. Tell Lita that's she's better off sleeping with the title belt than you for the next couple of nights… because in a few weeks, it will be gone," Danielle mused. "Then again, you'll probably move on to the next WWE ho… oops. I mean BABE of the year," she chuckled wickedly. "See you around."

Within moments, Green Day was blaring through the speakers and Lillian Garcia could be heard over the guitar riffs ripping through the arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this match is scheduled for one fall. Making her way to the ring, from Brooklyn, New York… Danielle Landon!"

Her heart was about to rip out of her chest as she strutted down the ramp to a minor pop. It seemed as though, once again, her reputation had preceded her. Reaching the stars, she marched up and then went between the 1st and 2nd ropes, awaiting her opponent's arrival.

Victoria's music exploded in the arena as she appeared from behind the curtain in black wrestling shorts and a black top, as well, a look of animalistic ferocity on her face. She ran down and slid through the ropes, attacking Danielle, causing the bell to sound.

Her elbows connected with Danielle's ribs sharply, causing a sharp pain to sprout in different sections of her abdomen. Danielle countered an attempt at a clothesline, ducking under her arm and dropkicking her to the ground. She picked her up from the ground and landed a few chops into the corner, before meeting her with a snapmare.

Whipping her raven hair backwards, Victoria stumbled to her feet as Danielle set up for the Top Rope Tumble, which connected with her midsection swiftly. As she was lifted by her opponent to her feet, however, Victoria raked her eyes, leaving her in a temporary state of disarray. Moments later, though, Danielle backflipped across the ring and finished her Grinder.

As Victoria stumbled around the ring, Danielle lay in wait. She launched herself onto Victoria's back, taking her down to the ground hard, with her knees on either side. Bridging over her body, she slipped her wrists around her neck and pulled forward harshly, locking in an inverted STF, now known to the crowd as Rebel Rising.

There was a dull noise emanating from the mat and the bell sounded.

Her first WWE victory… Victoria had tapped out.

Climbing the ropes, she raised her arms in victory to a huge response from the crowd. A new Diva had finally arrived and she was not to be taken lightly.

Danielle's celebration was quickly cut short by a loud chorus of boos, signaling that Lita was on her way to the ring. She turned around, her face nearly connecting with the metal of her title belt as she ducked under it. She kicked Lita in the stomach and followed up with a bulldog to the mat. Lita could only stagger around the ring as Danielle charged the corner and hit the Whirlwind on Lita.

The now crazy crowd began booing again as she felt a pair of strong hands latch onto her hair and pull her down to the mat… hard.

Her instinct was to reach for the nape of her neck, pierced by pain. He pulled her again to her feet and finally, Landon caught a glimpse of her attacker as she stared into his raging eyes.

Edge.

She slapped him hard across the face, which only made him madder as he threw her halfway across the ring.

Pain immediately rocked Danielle's body as she struggled to her feet. She would not go down without a fight.

Once again, the reaction of the crowd changed and Edge, who was setting up for the spear, fled the ring immediately.

A voice in her ear caused her head to whip up, even while doubled over in pain, "Are you okay?"

All she could do was nod and turn her stare ferociously towards Edge and Lita.

"It's mine, Lita!" she seethed audibly, her eyebrows furrowed into a deep, angry V. "Hold onto that title while you still can!"

* * *

"How did I do?" Danielle anxiously asked Amy, nearly bouncing up and down.

"Great!" she smiled and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. "You were a smash!"

"That rush…" she recalled excitedly.

"It's like nothing else out there," a boasting male voice called in response from the end of the hallway.

"John!" she screamed and ran towards him.

"You were awesome out there," John grinned at her and kissed her gently. "The fans were going insane."

"There's nothing else like it… it's unbelievable. It was worth everything I gave up."

"I know, baby," he nodded punctually and then turned serious for a brief moment. "Don't we have a promo to cut in a few minutes?"

"Yeah, you do," Adam confirmed, checking a clock on a nearby wall. "In the locker room, in five minutes."

"Gotcha. Danielle, head to the locker room and meet up with the camera crew there. I have to do an interview with Maria first…"

"I know, John," she assured him. "Trust me."

"I forget that you know sometimes…"

"How about all the time?" she arched an eyebrow at him.

"Christ, Danielle," he muttered. "Just go to the locker room already."

"Yes, Father," she rolled her eyes at him and stuck her tongue out before heading towards the end of the hall and turning right, disappearing beyond a white wall.

Amy giggled at the frustration creeping up John's neck and into his face, "You two are impossible!"

"And I thought I was frustrating!" Adam concurred, attempting to curb his laughter.

"Finally, there's someone who can give it right back to you when the rest of us fail."

"Yeah, yeah…" John brushed her comment off and looked to the clock again. "I have to go find Maria. Catch you all later," he concluded, turning in the same direction Danielle had just retreated, attempting to follow in her path.

"You know, Adam," Amy began, her eyes still focused on John's retreating form. "I think John Cena might have finally met his match."

"I know I don't say this too often, Ames," he joked, "But I think you're absolutely right."

"Hey, Adam?" she turned her head towards him.

"Yeah, Amy?"

"Go to hell."

* * *

**A/N: So that was Chapter 12 for all of you. I'm hoping to get 13-15 up by Tuesday night, as I will be leaving for Europe on June 27th. There won't be any updates until July 12th, as I will be no where near a computer for quite some times, but I will be writing a lot while I'm gone. I have two notebooks, one for Partners in Crime and one for She's a Rebel.**

**Maybe being in England, France, Italy, and Greece will inspire me. Then again, maybe my loyal reader, best friend, and roommate, Julia, will be bugging me to write so much that I'll just pick up the notebook and write to shut her up.**

**Either way, take your pick.**

** Danielle **


	13. Chapter 13

"Hi, John," Maria bounced up and down excitedly, clumsily dropping the microphone to the floor. "Oops," she shrugged, bending over to pick it up as john leaned back to steal a look. She retrieved the microphone and stood back up, "How are you doing tonight?"

"Pretty good, Maria," she laughed, slinging the WWE Title onto his shoulder. "How about you?"

"I'm good," she blushed noticeably and continued. "You used to be Smackdown exclusive… what happened?"

"Apparently, I was the number one draft pick in this year's draft lottery," he replied honestly. "Everyone was at risk and we all knew it. As soon as Bischoff selected me, Teddy took Batista."

The crowd booed at the notion of Batista's departure.

"I see," Maria's doe eyes widened. "A champion for a champion!"

"Actually… yeah," John said in surprise. After all, Maria Kanellis was certainly not known for being the female reincarnation of Albert Einstein.

"So how does it feel to be on Raw, John?"

"For starters, it's great to be on Raw… it's a new challenge. I loved my time on Smackdown, don't get me wrong, but now I have a whole new set of challengers ahead of me."

"You had a busy night," Maria prefaced. "First, you're drafted to Raw and a few minutes ago, you headed to the ring in the defense of the WWE's newest Diva, Danielle Landon? Why?"

John felt the rush of anger creep up his spine and course through his veins.

"Edge is nothing more than a gutless bully. He's picking on women, now?" he shook his head in disgust. "Then again, they're probably the only people he can beat. If two girls want to get into a catfight, then… by all means, let them go at it. It's their beef. Then again, it's not exactly bad for us guys to watch either," he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at Maria.

"Huh?" she stared blankly at him.

"Girls… tearing at each other. Catfight…" he tried to get it into her head, but it was no use. "Nevermind. Plain and simple, it was not Edge's place to get involved. Even when it involved the ho of the WWE known as…"

"LITA!" a loud shriek echoed through the halls from what seemed to be the Diva's locker room, followed by the dull sounds of body meeting metal.

"Christ," John muttered and took off for the door.

* * *

The sound of large objects hitting the wall echoed through the arena as the cameras followed John to the door. He pushed through and found the benches overturned, the chairs in contorted states, scattered throughout the room. Looking directly ahead, he also found Danielle Landon.

He reached out for her, only to come nearly face to face with the chair in her grasp.

"Easy, easy…" John put his hands up in surrender. "I come in peace."

"What do you want?" she added suspiciously, brushing a few red-tipped strands behind her ears.

"I was just making sure that you weren't beating the crap out of Lita, that's all," he stated simply.

"And so what if I was?" Danielle's hands settled firmly on her hips, a leg stretched to her right.

"I wouldn't stop you. Hell… I'd pull up a chair and watch," John laughed loudly, but stopped when it became apparent that she would not be joining in. "But Edge wouldn't have sat back and watched…"

"I don't need a protector, John," she cut him off sharply. "I can take care of myself and…"

"You might want to change that stubborn attitude of yours," a male voice added sarcastically from the doorway.

They turned to find Eric Bischoff leaned against the doorframe.

"Knock much, Bischoff?" Danielle responded spitefully.

"Watch yourself, Landon," he warned her tauntingly. "Just because everyone lets you be a rebel, doesn't mean I will."

"What do you want?"

"I just came to inform you that next week, you and Cena have a match, but now I've changed my mind…" he cackled, approaching them cautiously. "It was going to be Danielle Landon and John Cena versus Lita and Edge, but you know, Danielle has put me in a rather excellent mood this evening and I feel like rewarding you. So next week, you've got yourself a match" he concluded before heading towards the door. Halfway through the frame, he pivoted around and grinned sinisterly. "It will be the WWE Champion John Cena and his partner, Danielle Landon, versus Edge and Lita… and Randy Orton. In a mixed tag match."

Eric Bischoff turned around and shut the door behind him.

"That was pleasant," John deadpanned, righting a bench and sitting down on top of it.

"Yeah," Danielle replied, a glare still focused on the doorway. "Look, I'm sorry about that. I just tend to say what's on my mind."

"Hey," he stopped her. "Don't apologize. Ain't nothing wrong with that."

"Maybe," she sighed, dropping her duffel bag to the floor and leaning on one of the locker cubbies. "But I shouldn't have snapped on you before. You saved my ass out there and I appreciate it."

"He had no business being in there in the first place."

"Actually," Danielle rubbed her temples and stared out at the floor. "He did."

"Yeah, I saw the fight backstage," he nodded. "Still… it's not his battle to fight. It's Lita's…"

"But what I wouldn't give to get my hands on him…" she trailed off, excited by the thought.

"Speaking of which, what the hell was that lock you had on Victoria?" he turned his head cleanly towards her, clearly impressed by her tenacity.

"You should kind of know…" Danielle laughed. "It's your STFU, only… upside down and inverted. All of my weight winds up on the opponent, but balance depends on the cooperation of the opponent. It's called Rebel Rising."

"Whatever you call it, it's kick ass."

"Thanks. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to get changed," she interred, hinting at his needed departure.

"Of course I don't, be my guest…" he leaned back slightly, folding his arms over his chest.

'"Um… that means you have to leave, John," Danielle rolled her eyes at him and pushed his solid body off the bench.

"Worth a shot," she shrugged and then disappeared behind the door She removed her wrestling boots, but called out, "Goodbye, JOHN!"

"Dammit!" he whined and the door clicked behind him audibly.

* * *

**A/N: I'm sorry that it's been over a month since I updated, but I kind of needed to re-evaluate where I was going with the story and I finally have decided what I want to do with it.**

**I know that this update is also very short, but I didn't want you all to wait anymore, so I posted it. Chapter 14 is going to be good, though too, you'll see.**

**As always, please read and review!**

** Danielle **


	14. Chapter 14

"John?" she asked curiously, her gaze still drawn to the cool, glass window.

"Yes, babe?" he replied as she turned to face him one-sidedly, his sapphire eyes fixated on the road.

"Where are we going?" Danielle continued to study his features.

John had slept the entire ride from Raleigh to Savannah in the rental car. She didn't mind driving, as she had slept well the night before, but now, he looked alert and well-rested, as opposed to this morning. His electric blue orbs sparkled in the early afternoon sunlight, which painted a golden glow onto his already bronzed skin. As harshly opposed as she was to baking one's body in a standup oven to get tan, Danielle had to admit… it looked good on him. Plus, it wasn't like it was any more dangerous than getting hit by steel chairs and put through tables on a regular basis.

"Somewhere."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," she rolled her eyes at his ambiguous answer and continued to press the subject, "Where are we going?!?"

A Cheshire grin swept across his face.

There it was again- that smirk of his. She was able to resist anything he threw at her: the puppy dog dace, the eyebrow wiggle, his faze, and his horrible pickup lines, but the one thing that made her legs turn to jelly?

His smile.

"John!" she whined, half-enjoying the torture.

"Danielle…" he mocked her, flicking his eyes from the road, to her pouting face, and then back again.

"Ew… you're mean…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he halted her. "Remember the last time we got into this discussion? Yeah, I wound up with my shirt off, you straddling my lap, and your neighbor interrupting us on the sidewalk."

"I know," she shook her head in disappointment and then shrugged innocently," What a shame."

Two could play that game.

* * *

They pulled of I95 in Tampa and began taking a scenic route, passing the shore. The waves broke over the clean sand, draped in the orange and champagne blush of the sunset.

"Wow," Danielle gasped as they crossed the bridge over the Intercoastal Waterway. "That's… breathtaking."

John laughed, sliding one hand off the wheel to lower the radio. "You're such a hippie."

"And you're such a wigger," she countered sarcastically, smiling at him curtly.

"I am not!" he protested loudly, surprised at her comment.

"Yeah, okay, Marky Mark," Danielle ignored his rebuttal and allowed her gaze to wander out the open window again. "Promise me we'll try and get to the beach soon, John," she added randomly as they exited the interstate.

"Now, Danielle," he started softly," You know how busy…"

"I know," she nodded, cutting him off as she played with a loose strand at the hem of her black tank top. "But we can try…"

"Yes," he conceded, slowly turning onto a side road, hand over hand. "We can try."

Moments later, they turned onto a long road, passing many palm trees along the way. The extensive, empty stretch of pavement was soon overshadowed by a pair of large houses, followed by a few more placed sparingly along the street.

"John?" Danielle looked over her shoulder and reflected on the houses they'd passed. "Where are we going?" she asked again as the car came to a complete stop.

When she turned around, they were parked at the end of a long, paved driveway.

He smiled at her as he faced her, and for the first time that day, locked eyes with Danielle.

"Home."

Excitedly, Danielle threw open her door and grabbed her duffel bag. "Come on!" she urged him impatiently, hopping up and down behind him as he reached into the backseat for his own bag, "Hurry up!"

John turned around and caught sight of her body jumping up and down on top of the grass anxiously. With a suggestive grin he commented, "The next time you decide to do that, make sure I'm watching."

She smacked him sharply on the bicep, "Pervert."

But it didn't hurt him at all and he laughed, fully knowing that if she wanted to, she could have made it sting.

"You always take it easy on me," he continued to laugh.

"Maybe, but I always give you a hard time."

John wrapped his arms around Danielle and pulled her to his chest.

"And that's why I love you."

"I love you too, John," she closed her eyes and smiled.

"Come on," he let her go and grabbed her hand. "I want to remind you what home feels like."

"You know," she chuckled in disbelief, staring at the beige stone walkway below her feet, as she shuffled to the front door, her hand intertwined with her boyfriend's. "Sometimes you sound so stupid when you open your mouth and just when I start to believe there's nothing up here," Danielle added, knocking on the side of his head for an added effect, "You do something like this."

"Was that supposed to be a compliment?" John turned to her, arching an eyebrow at his girlfriend, his free hand placing a key in the lock and twisting the golden doorknob. "Because it doesn't really sound like one…"

She scoffed at him as they walked into the house and put their bags down at the door, "You know what John? F-U."

"No, baby," he shook his head at her before lunging towards her and with ease, lifting her petite frame into a fireman's carry over his shoulders. "F-U."

"John," Danielle chuckled, kicking her legs in an attempt to wriggle free. "Put me down!"

"Nope," he answered simply, heading for the maple stairs to their left. "Where are we going?" she continued to laugh, realizing it was becoming the question of the day.

"As they disappeared across the landing, John smirked, "To make me a very happy man."

* * *

John stirred in his slumber, his arm slithering across to the right side of the sheets, only to find emptiness in its place. His eyelids opened slowly, yet caught no sight of Danielle beside him. Stretching his arms over his head, he yawned loudly and glanced at the clock. It was nearly five in the morning and he was starving.

As if on cue, the smell of breakfast wafted through the room and he determined it was originating from downstairs. John threw off the blanket and looked at his reflection in the mirror.

"Bed head…" he laughed knowingly, checking out the flatness of what little hair he possessed.

He slowly crept downstairs, careful not to make a sound. It was still dark out and it seemed as though it was one o' clock in the morning. Despite the lack of light outside, a glow tumbled over into the hallway from the kitchen and the smell of homecooking was getting stronger by the footstep.

John continued his path to the kitchen and stopped in the doorway, his eyes roaming up and down his girlfriend's body. There she was, in flannel red pajama bottoms and a light pink camisole, her hair blatantly fallen victim to bed head, as well, and her face completely untouched by makeup, but to John Cena, she was the sexiest woman on the face of the earth.

He slithered behind her, careful not to tip her off to his presence and careful to avoid the sizzling frying pan in her grasp as he snaked his arm around he waist.

"Good morning," John kissed her neck and smiled into her skin.

"Hey you," she laughed. "Sleep well?"

"Not really," he shrugged and then added, "But I'm okay with that."

"I'll bet you are," she grinned coyly.

"And by the way, nice hair," he chuckled briefly.

"I'm so glad you noticed," she rolled her eyes at him.

"My bad, I take full responsibility… sorry," he replied, lifting his shoulders innocently. "So what's for breakfast?"

She dropped her spatula onto the countertop and turned to face him, "Why do you automatically assume this is for you? Maybe, just maybe… I figured you wouldn't wake up for another few hours because I gave you quite a workout and this was for me! What would you say to that?"

John allowed a wry smile to slide across his face, "I'd say you did give me a good workout."

"Ugh," she growled in frustration, turning once again to the frying pan and picking up the spatula. "You're fucking impossible!"

"Thank you."

Danielle was actually quite proud of herself at the moment. Despite her exasperation when it came to John, she had found it hard to resist him. He stood before her, clad only in a pair of vivid blue boxers, which matched his electric blue eyes, every single muscle defined in perfect view. Then again, when John was shirtless, the last thing she looked at were his eyes. This time, she had resisted him. Had she not, chances were, they'd never leave the house. Ever again.

"Hey," he said softly, kissing her right temple, "Don't be mad at me."

"I'm not," she responded honestly with a heavy sigh. "We've gone over this before, I just can't…"

"I love that about you."

She shook her head, completely flustered with him, and split everything into two plates, one with clearly more food than the other: John's plate.

"Come on, let's go eat outside," John told her, picking up both plates and heading for the screen door to deck out back. "Grab a fork…"

"It's kind of cold out right now, babe," she interred. "Grab a shirt first…"

"Fine," he handed her the plates and headed upstairs for a shirt.

"Still impossible," Danielle shook her head and laughed, opening up the glass door to the deck. "But it least it takes care of one problem."

* * *

The house was just as beautiful outside as it was inside, with a maple deck that was easily the size of the kitchen and had a tiki bar at one end. The stairs disappeared in the direction of the pool, which was made of rocks, had a water slide, and appeared to be straight out of MTV Cribs.

The sky had turned a dusky shade of blue and it was still relatively cold, even at 5am. Her freezing shoulders were suddenly draped by a deep crimson fabric.

Turning around, Danielle came face to face with John, who closed the blanket around her stomach.

"I like it out here, too," John smiled at her. "It lets me think…"

"You? Think?" she replied in mock surprise. "Now there's a concept."

"Hey," he scowled, heading downstairs towards the swinging bench in front of the pool, plates of food and bottles of water in hand. "I do have thoughts, you know."

"I understand that," he rolled her eyes at him for the second time that morning. "But how many of them are clean ones?"

He waited at the bottom of the steps for her and then smirked, "Only the ones that don't involve you."

"I'm flattered," she countered playfully, pulling her blanket just above the concrete.

"You should be. After all… it's the WWE Champion, John Cena, who is thinking about you."

"I'm sorry," Danielle cracked a wry smile. "Did you switch bodies with Randy Orton?"

"Whoa… whoa… uncalled for!" he replied, clutching at his chest.

"Did that just burn a little? Oh, I'm sorry," she laughed, sitting down on the end of the bench, causing it to swing back a little bit.

"You keep this up and I am not tagging with you tomorrow. You can deal with the three mouseketeers on your own," he replied, dropping down on the bench beside her.

"But, baby, it's musketeers…"

"I know what I said," he answered, taking a forkful of eggs into his mouth.

"Whatever, John," she chuckled again at his expense. Taking a look at the pool and the palm trees in the yard, Danielle couldn't help but change the subject. "How did you find this place?"

"You see," he began in a theatrical voice, after another bite of his eggs. "There was this treasure map…"

She elbowed him in the ribs, "Don't be a smart ass."

"Actually, it was in winter 2003 that I moved to Tampa. In California, I was away from the cold, but once I got to OVW, I couldn't afford to keep an apartment there, so I got one in Kentucky. After I got called up though, same thing happened. I wasn't making enough money to hold down an apartment, so I moved back home with Dad."

"Why Tampa?"

"Honestly?" John asked her, to which she nodded. "I wanted to get away from the cold. After twenty-something years, I hated it. I was tossing around the idea of getting an apartment when Randy Orton decided that he wanted to move, permanently, as well. We were in the right place at the right time," he recalled fondly. "Although, he was a terrible roommate… we were like the odd couple."

"Let me guess… you were Felix?"

"Actually, I was Oscar," he laughed wholeheartedly.

"But your room… your Dad's house…they're so clean?"

"Only because I haven't been home," he shrugged. "Then Randy started booking some big matches and I got my shot at the US Championship. Pretty soon, I was making a steady income and had some nice endorsement deals. Early this year, in January, I bought this house. My mom went looking with me."

"Your mom has great taste, John," she smiled glancing around the property.

"Yeah, but we haven't had much time to decorate it," he sighed. "I know what I want for me, but I can't exactly have sports jerseys everywhere, you know?"

"Kind of."

"What about you?" John looked at her.

"What about me?"

"Come on, Danielle," he shot her a knowing look. "Did you really think that I would bring you here if I didn't want you to stay?"

"You… you want me to stay here?" she put her plate down on the table and turned her body towards her boyfriend.

"Yes, baby. I want you to stay here with me."

"But what about Boston?"

"We talked about this before… did you really think that you'd be in Boston forever?" he asked.

"I don't know. I didn't know where I'd end up."

"You certainly didn't expect me…"

"No," she smiled up at him. "You were the last person I expected to fall for."

"And to think… this time last year, I had no clue you even existed," John marveled, staring towards the horizon.

"One in… three hundred million," Danielle acknowledged, leaning back onto John's still-bare chest and snuggling into his warm skin, before closing her eyes. "Hey, John?"

"Yes?" he responded, wrapping his strong arms around her crimson-draped form.

"I love you."

John brushed a few strands of red-tipped blonde hair off of her forehead and kissed her temple gently, "I love you too."

* * *

**A/N: Sorry it took so long, I finally figured out where I wanted to go with the next chapter, and considering that this sets it up, I kind of had to take a while to edit it down.**

**Fifteen should be coming kind of soon, so until then, READ AND REVIEW!!!!**

**Last chapter's showing was just pathetic, guys.**

** Danielle**


	15. Chapter 15

"Good evening, Ms. Landon,"

"And I thought tonight couldn't get much worse," Danielle sighed, dropping her duffel bag to the floor. "Eric," her body turned around and she glared at her boss. "I thought Satan would have collected his favorite minion by now."

"Oh, how you amuse me," he chuckled sinisterly. "Excited for your match tonight?"

"Yes… is that what you came to ask me?" she arched an eyebrow at him.

"You caught me," Eric admitted with a trademark smile. "I came to make you an offer… you see who the current women's champ is?"

"Yes, Lita."

"Well, I suggest a partnership of sorts… and you will be, rest assured, the new champ and John Cena… will be on his own."

"As tempting as that is," Danielle made a disgusted look, "I want to win that belt fair and square. Plus, I don't know what morals… or lack thereof… you were raised on, but where I come from, you don't desert your partner."

"Well, suit yourself," he shrugged as he made his way to the door and place a hand on the doorknob. "But," he added, turning around, "For Cena's sake, I hope you stick to that."

* * *

_Wake me up inside... wake me up inside..._

"And making her way to the ring, from Brooklyn, New York, Danielle Landon!"

Danielle waved to the crowd from the edge of the platform and rocked out to the music as she headed for the end of the ramp, where she stopped in waiting for her partner.

Lita was clearly raring to go and screamed at Danielle in an attempt to get a rise out of her. All she succeeded in provoking was a smirk and an antagonistic air kiss, which made her even angrier.

Suddenly, the lights dimmed and the familiar horns of John's entrance music reverberated off the walls of the arena. A few moments later, he burst onto the platform as the crowd went absolutely crazy. He saluted them and headed down to meet Danielle at the end of the ramp, where she and Lita were still exchanging words.

John took his place beside her and gave her a slight nudge, "You ready?"

"More than ever," she nodded.

He gestured towards the ring and added, "Follow me in."

Within seconds, John dove into the ring under the first rope with Danielle right behind him. She whipped her hair back and glanced sinisterly up at Lita, who along with Edge and Orton, quickly retreated from the ring.

She rose to her feet, along with John, and stood atop the turnbuckle of the opposite corner as she shot the rocker devil horns sign into the air, before switching corners.

Now, she was ready. Lita stepped into the ring to face off against her, yet caught her in the stomach with a swift kick before locking her into a dragon sleeper.

Danielle, however, was able to counter and pushed Lita into the ropes, clotheslining her upon her return. Of course, she quickly went for the pin, receiving only a 2-count, and Lita tagged in Randy Orton.

She claimed she could roll with the boys… now was her time to prove it.

Randy ducked under the ropes and swaggered toward her cockily, blowing her a kiss which made her shutter in disgust.

"Danielle!" John called to her from their corner, one hand extended for a tag, but she was not about to back down.

Still, she kept her gaze locked on Randy, tripping him up when he dove at her, taking the opportunity to land a moonsault on him. However, Lita caught Danielle's attention, leaving enough time for Randy to regain control of the match.

He grabbed her by her hair and wrenched her down onto the mat, eliciting an angry chorus of boos from the crowd. Then Orton locked her in an abdominal stretch that she refused to tap out from as John riled up the crowd in support. Soon though, Randy abandoned that tactic in favor of punishment.

The smug superstar then launched her into the ropes and she ricocheted off into a setup for the RKO, however she countered the attempt into a neckbreaker, leaving both Danielle and Randy on the mat.

The ref began his obligatory count-out, but around, she began crawling towards her corner, struggling to gain enough strength to make it. Randy was attempting to do the same and he finally tagged in Edge, who ran towards Danielle just as she made contact with John.

John charged at Edge, knocking him to the ground and landing hard right hands. He picked him up off the ground and sent him into the ropes for a failed clothesline attempt, which was ducked and turned into a dropkick to the stomach.

The WWE Champ lay on the ground, clutching his ribs in agony and giving the newly-tagged in Orton a target for his assault. He locked in the same abdominal stretch he had used on Danielle, causing John to grimace in pain. Orton tagged back in Edge, who landed some swift kicks to his midsection.

He turned John towards Danielle as he continued the stretch on John and began to taunt her, leaving her vulnerable to Lita's sneak attack outside the apron. Lita crept up behind her and pulled her feet off the canvas, sending her to the floor.

She immediately got up and launched herself and her adversary, effectively tackling her to the ground. The ref moved to the outside to try and break it up as he left John to Edge and Orton in the ring.

Lita smacked her in the face and Danielle saw absolute red. Immediately, she superkicked Lita square in the jaw, causing her to fall back onto the ref as they knocked heads, leaving both of them out cold and Danielle without occupation.

Orton was setting up John for Edge's spear, but Danielle ran into the ring and hit the Whirlwind on the distracted Legend killer.

Edge was infuriated at his ex-girlfriend's interference and faced her. She, once again, was not about to back down, yet just as Randy went to attack her, John took Edge out of the picture. After tripping Orton up with a side Russian leg sweep, Danielle decided to make him pay and locked in Rebel Rising.

Orton tapped, but there was no referee in the ring and she pulled him into the ring just in time to be attacked… by Lita.

Cena quickly dealt with Randy Orton and caught Edge in the F-U.

"One… two… three!" the crowd counted.

John Cena and Danielle Landon: one. Edge and Lita: zero.

Randy Orton, Edge, and Lita stared them down from outside the ring as each stood on a turnbuckle for the crowd and posed. Lita seemed especially angry to know that there just might be a new top woman in town… and her name was Danielle Landon.

After switching turnbuckles, John walked over and hugged Danielle before raising her hand in the air in victory.

"Did you see the way that girl wrestled, J.R.? And that Whirlwind?" Jerry Lawler yelled from ringside. "She can use that move on me anytime."

"Easy now, King," J.R. chuckled beside him. "She might lock you in the Rebel Rising and make you tap out too."

"She's the first person ever to make Orton tap!"

"King, I think you might be right… well, ladies and gentlemen. There might be a new era on its way, The Rebel Era, and let me tell you something folks," he added enthusiastically, "John Cena and Danielle Landon might just be leading the revolution!"

* * *

"Nice match, Landon," Bischoff smiled at her backstage.

"Thanks, Eric," she replied graciously. "You play the creepy boss very well."

"And you play the bitch equally as well."

"Touché! " Danielle laughed.

"Danielle!" a voice called from far behind, which she turned to answer in recognition with a wave.

"Well," he surmised," Looks like you're going home for the night. See you tomorrow," he added and then exited past her and the trailing John Cena.

"Bye," she answered as John put his strong arms around her shoulder and brought her body close to his.

"You ready to go?" John asked her, resting his head on her shoulder.

"Mhm… do you mind if we take Randy home with us? I promised Adam and Amy that I wouldn't subject them to that kind of torture again," she laughed.

"I don't see why not. We are staying at the same hotel," he shrugged. "But…"

"Uh oh… what, babe?" Danielle asked him, a smile playing on her lips.

"I'm bound to drive like a maniac if he's bothering me from the backseat and my insurance can't take anymore points," John complained.

"So I get to suffer?" her eyebrows rose incredulously.

"Absolutely."

"Well, guess what then?" she asked innocently.

What?"

"You, my darling boyfriend, get to sleep on the floor tonight."

* * *

"Hey, Danielle?"

"Yes, Randy?" she turned around and replied, one hand still on the open driver's door.

"Can you pop the trunk?"

"Jesus Christ, Orton," John yelled from the front passenger's seat. "You already have two duffel bags in the back."

"Hey!" he protested. "I was using them as pillows!"

"Look what you've started," Danielle scolded her boyfriend as she shut her door.

"What I started?!?" his eyes bulged incredulously.

"Yeah," Randy agreed as he slid into the backseat. "What you started!"

She shifted the car into drive and began to pull the rented Pontiac G6 out of the arena parking lot onto the freeway.

"Me?" John whipped his head around and looked at Randy behind his seat. "I did not!"

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did n…"

"Do not make me pull this car over!" Danielle raised her voice angrily above their own. "Oh my God, I have officially become my mother."

"No," John interred quickly. "God forbid. No, you're not."

"Have you spoken to her since," Randy glanced nervously towards John, "Well… you know?"

"I haven't," she shook her head sadly, but kept her gaze on the road ahead. "Everyone, but her."

"You okay?" John asked her concernedly. "Do you want me to drive?"

"Ha!" she laughed. "That's like asking me if I want to die."

"And Adam and Lita wonder why I tag along with them…"

"Good God," Danielle rolled her eyes as she stopped at a traffic light. "We need to find you a girlfriend."

"Hey!" he protested harshly. "I tried, okay?"

"Yeah," John agreed sarcastically. "You tried to hit on _my_ girlfriend. Let's repeat… _my_ girlfriend. Not yours, not Adam's… _my_ girlfriend."

"Hey, John? Did I hit on your girlfriend? I can't remember," he drawled out facetiously as Danielle giggled.

"I'm about to hit you!" John continued as the car crawled forward. "Some girlfriend you are!"

"Yep, I'm terrible," she responded as they pulled into the parking lot of the hotel.

"You are," he said as he stepped out of the vehicle.

"Fine," she relented, slamming her door shut, "But when you get out of the shower and I'm asleep, I want you to remember that."

"Ohhhh!" Randy gaped at her. "You just got burned, buddy."

"At least I'm getting some, Orton."

"Not tonight, you're not," she sang as she walked towards the doors of the hotel and into the lobby.

John watched her form disappear into the hotel and turned to his friend, "Good. She's gone."

"You said you wanted to talk, John," Randy acknowledged.

"Yeah..." he trailed off, looking down at his sneakers.

"Shit," Randy muttered. "What's wrong?"

* * *

**A/N: Alright, so I know it has been a while... and I'm sorry. It took me forever to re-write this chapter and get it to where I want it to be, where I want it to go.**

**With school starting, I won't be updating as often as I'd like... and PIC inspiration is somewhat hard to come by as my real-life PIC is off in college. Hopefully, I'll be inspired soon and you'll be hearing more from Danielle Landon. **

**If you're really desperate for some new reading material, check out my other story, which has been updated more frequently and will continue to be updated rapidly, She's a Rebel. It's almost completed and a sequel is in the works!**

**Good luck to all of you starting school in the coming days... and as always...**

**REVIEW!!!!**

**Danielle**


	16. Chapter 16

_Ding dong._

"Mmm," Danielle licked the drop of chocolate frosting off of her left thumb and removed her apron, placing it on kitchen counter. "I'll get it."

John nodded from the table where he was flipping through the pages of Muscle and Fitness magazine.

The clicking of her heels could be heard as she made her way across the tiles and to the front door.

Once she got to the large door, she pulled it open and let out a scream.

"Julia!" she yelled excitedly and hugged her friend.

"Danielle?" John called urgently as he ran to the front door. "You okay?"

But as he ran to the door, he came to the face to face with his younger brother.

"You're not my girlfriend," he stated bluntly.

"Good observation, John," Matt laughed. "Nice to see you too," he added, embracing his younger brother and ruffling his spiky, brown hair.

"How was your flight?" John asked with a laugh, nudging his girlfriend slightly.

"Check my hand," Matt held up his left palm. "Did it revert back from purple yet?"

Julia rolled her eyes and pulled his hand back to his side, "He's fine."

"I believe it," Danielle shrugged. "Senior year, spring break in Greece… I lost feeling in my hand for an entire day?"

"See, I wasn't lying," Matt smiled curtly at his girlfriend.

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes at him. "So who else is coming, Landon?"

"Randy is coming over with Sam," Danielle added.

"Question?" Julia tilted her head to the side. "Do you think Sam will mind if we trade boyfriends?"

"I don't know," Danielle tapped her chin, playing along, "We can check. If not, you can always trade brothers. Come," she linked arms with her best friend, "Walk with me."

"Surely," Julia grinned as they walked towards the kitchen, talking loudly.

"Now, we can trade in Matt for Nathan… or I can always see what Jeff Hardy's doing…"

"Doesn't Kurt Angle have a brother?"

"Forget about him… then again, there are three other Cena boys…"

"But isn't Steve married?" Julia asked.

"Yes, but Dan, Sean, and _Marc_ aren't."

"But he's a Predka."

"Trust me," Danielle laughed. "Zero difference."

Matt and John stood there, watching as the best friends walked into the kitchen.

"You have a demon for a girlfriend, you know that?" Matt shook his head.

"I know," John smiled wryly. "That's why I like her."

The doorbell rang again.

John pulled open the door and came eye to eye with the emerald-orbed Randy Orton.

"Hey, man," Randy greeted him.

"What's up, Orton?"

"Not much, not much."

"I hope we're not too late," Sam smiled, her light brown hair glinting in the Florida sunlight.

"No, Sam," John shook her head and embraced her. "Don't worry about it. Danielle and her friend, Julia, are out back."

"Sounds like fun to me," she grinned again and kissed Randy on the cheek. "I'll see you outside."

"Mhmm," he nodded and watched her hips sway as she walked down the hall.

"I'd be careful if I were you, man," Matt shook his head. "She's been trying to trade me off all afternoon. First, it was for John, then for a guy we saw on the plane, then almost every superstar on the roster… and last time I checked," his voice dropped lower, "You were the hot topic of conversation."

Randy froze for a moment, processing the notion Matt Cena had just expressed.

"Hey, baby?" he called out to Samantha, who was nearly out of sight.

"Yeah?" she turned around at the glass doors of the patio.

"I love you!"

"Love you too," she smiled back at him, but then caught something moving out of the corner of her eye through the door, "Danielle! Hey!"

Randy looked over at the brothers, leaning against the front door.

"Do you think she suspected anything?"

"Oh no, man," Matt answered, shaking his head and waving a hand at the older man, "Not at all," he added, nudging him forward to walk.

"Yeah, Orton," John joined in, "Good cover," he assured him.

_Yeah, Randy. Awesome cover. Moron.

* * *

_

"Hey, Jules?" John asked his girlfriend's lifelong best friend.

She looked up at him from where she sat at the edge of the pool and shielded her eyes from the sun as John towered over her.

For a moment, Julia couldn't help but stare up at him. The way the sun hit his body after a quick cannonball into the pool, she couldn't help herself.

At six feet, one inch tall, and with 245 pounds of muscle, she could completely understand what her best friend saw in him. Well, what she would see in him anyway.

Growing up with Danielle wasn't east, but she had never once complained. It wasn't that Danielle was a bad kid, in fact, she wasn't. It was just that she made Julia look bad.

She was a straight A student and when she said A, she meant A, not A minus. God forbid that tragedy occurred.

In fact, if Danielle hadn't torn her ACL, Julia was convinced that she would have been Valedictorian. Oddly enough, it was her lack of a gym grade that cost her that title.

But at least Julia got to go with her to the Sports Medicine Institute of Physical Therapy… and there were plenty of shirtless, muscled up boys there…

… kind of like the one standing in front of her.

Almost instantly, a splash of water emanated from the pool and coated Julia with water.

Now completely drenched, she looked down at her calves and found a massive water balloon, roughly the size of a volleyball, bobbing up and down in the crystal clear water.

"Matthew Cena!" she screamed shrilly. "Don't you make me come in there or I will punish you in ways that no man on Earth could stand!"

But the truth was, with his boyish charm, good looks, and tendency to keep her on her toes, Julia Dottrina couldn't help but adore Matthew Cena.

Still, a girl could take notice of family resemblances, couldn't she? Hell, she wasn't acting on them.

With a deep breath, she turned back towards John and plastered a smile on her face, "Yes?"

A laugh escaped from John's lips, "Can you help me inside for a minute?"

"Sure," Julia nodded. "Allow me to tear myself away."

She picked up the water balloon and stood up, hurling it through the air and hitting her boyfriend in the face.

"All done," she winked and wiped her hands clean.

"Good," John laughed at her immaturity. "Follow me. I wanted some help getting some stuff from the car to the house."

"No problem," Julia nodded and followed him into the house.

* * *

John opened the oak doors to the steps leading down to the pathway across the lawn. He allowed Julia to walk through first and then followed her outside, sitting down on the top step of three.

"Have a seat," he requested politely.

"Sure," she eyed him nervously and sat down on the concrete. "Is everything okay?"

"Um…"

"John," she looked out at the house's roving lawn and then turned her head towards him on her left, "What's going on?"

He took a deep breath and reached into the pocket of his cargo pants.

"I received this letter about two weeks ago, but I didn't pick it up until we got home on Tuesday morning..." he trailed off, handing an envelope to her.

"This is a registered letter, John," her eyes widened as she eyed the handwriting on the front. "This looks familiar…"

"Look at the back."

As John continued to look out over the property, Julia twirled the envelope in her hands.

"It's Danielle's address…"

"Her OLD address," he snapped back at her and then took a deep breath.  
Sorry, I'm just a little on edge about everything. Look, just read the letter. It explains everything."

Carefully, the young brunette unfolded the paper that laid in the envelope.

Her eyes widened as she canned the two pages of the letter, finally letting it hang loosely in her fingers before it danced to the last concrete step.

"She's kidding, right?"

"Judging by the seal on the front, I'd say that's a no."

"Are you going to tell Danielle?" she asked him.

"Obviously," John furrowed his eyebrows. "What am I going to do? Say, 'Honey, we have to go to a therapist for no reason at all today?'"

Julia rolled her eyes, "Tell her as soon as you can. You know she doesn't like having anything hidden from her."

"I just wanted your opinion," he replied honestly, his hands now clasped together in front of him.

"I know that," she nodded, "But for something like this… call the best lawyers you can, get Vince McMahon on the phone… hello, get the entire McMahon family on the phone. 'Cause Danielle is going to fight… and she's going to fight like hell."

* * *

**A/N: I'm sorry an update on this story has taken so long, but my muse ran off to college and she finally came back a few weeks ago.**

**Plus, it was easy to find something to do with this in my post-surgery moments. :-)**

**Here you go, Julia. Now leave me alone for a week. Hehe.**

**Let me know what you all think!**

**Danielle**


	17. Chapter 17

* * *

Danielle's eyelids slowly pried open as she felt the mattress shift for the fourth time that night.

The room was still mostly dark, but it was slightly dusky from the rays of the sun creeping up the horizon.

She looked over at the lock on the edge of her nightstand and blinked.

_5:29 am._

Danielle closed her eyes once again and pulled the blanket closer up her body, turning over to her right, but as she reached over, expecting to touch the bare, bronzed skin of her boyfriend, all she hit was fabric.

Her eyes shot open again, "John?"

Her hazel orbs searched the room, but there was still no sign of John Cena anywhere.

She groaned softly and rolled out of bed, a chill running up and down her arms.

Danielle reached for the first available object of clothing she could find: her red satin kimono robe that she had purchased when the WWE had taken RAW to Madison Square Garden.

It was mainly red with some turquoise and white flowers woven into the design, yet it still provided some much needed cover to her black camisole and grey shorts-clad body.

* * *

John sat down at the kitchen table and took a long drink from his hunter green coffee mug.

It was just past 5:30 in the morning and he hadn't been able to sleep at all. He'd maybe taken a ten or fifteen minute snooze her or there, but nothing substantial.

The truth was that the letter was absolutely tearing him apart inside. He couldn't even lay down next to her without that pang of guilt creeping back inside of him.

_What have I gotten myself into? I'm ruining her life by staying with her, but what can I do? I don't want to lose her…_

"John?"

_There it is again, her voice. She's in my head…and I can't make it stop. I just can't leave her… I can't._

"John?"

He placed his mug back down on the kitchen table and swiveled his body around to the right, where he caught sight of her, awake, for the first time that night.

She stood there, one hand on a square column, her face softening as she gazed at him. Barefoot, no makeup, and in nothing more to the eye than the satin robe, she still left him absolutely speechless.

"You got me worried," she added, walking towards him. "I didn't know where you ran off to."

"Sorry," John apologized and stared down at his green mug. "I just couldn't sleep."

"I know," Danielle nodded and approached him at the table. "I felt you tossing and turning all night. And by the way," she reached over and took away his mug, taking a long drink from it, and then resting it back on the surface, "This isn't going to help."

"I'm not getting back to sleep, Danielle," he shook his head. "I've just got too much on my mind."

"I know," she nodded and took a seat at the glazed oak table. "You haven't been the same since we had the barbeque. There's something you're not telling me, John."

Danielle looked down at ceramic she had stolen from him a few moments before as he say, slightly slumped over in his chair, staring at his folded hands.

This wasn't how he wanted to tell her that her mother thought she was crazy and that he was the reason for her "meltdown." This wasn't the way he wanted to tell her he had received a warning, but soon, she wouldn't be as lucky.

But John Cena knew he had to do it. If he waited for the second letter to arrive, she might fall apart or never forgive him at all. Even worse, she could leave altogether and he'd be left alone and broken-hearted once again.

No, this time there was no avoiding it. The time had come.

He had to tell her.

John let out a sigh and looked up from his hands, locking his blue eyes with her hazel ones, "It's your mother."

Danielle was taken aback and furrowed her eyebrows, "My mother? What does she have to do with anything?"

"You were right… you know," he glanced at her cautiously, "When you said I wasn't telling you something."

"It's about the letter, isn't it?"

John's head shot up and he gazed over at her, his head tilted to the side, "You know about the letter?"

"Obviously," Danielle replied, "I got it."

"That's weird… I got one too," he stated and rubbed his chin. "I thought it was a preemptory strike… giving me one as a threat then you as a means of taking action."

"Oh no," Jessica chuckled awkwardly, "She's taking action. Do you… uh… do you still have your letter?"

"Yeah, do you?"

"Mhmm," she nodded. "What did yours say?"

"That I was eventually going to be subpoenaed to testify in the case and that if I walked away from our relationship, she would drop the case," John informed her.

"Pretty much what she said to me too," Danielle shook her head in absolutely disbelief.

"Wow. How is your dad dealing with this?"

"He isn't," she whispered, barely audible as she stared off into space.

"What do you mean _he isn't_?"

"I mean that he isn't dealing with it. He left," she replied to his question. "I called my sister as soon as I got the letter. She told me that he separated from Mom last month and moved out, took everything with him."

"Danielle, I…"

She held up a hand to stop him, "Don't. Just don't."

"No, I still feel like…"

"Stop it, John," she shook her head at him, tears beginning to dot the wood with water stains.

John pushed himself away from the table and stood up, walking towards his girlfriend. Danielle looked up at him, tears filling her eyes, but she quickly glanced away.

"Look at me."

"No," she shook her head at him, allowing the tears to leave marks on her robe.

"Danielle," John continued to look down at her, "Look at me."

"No," she refused again.

"Sweetheart," he slowly dropped to his knees and reached his hand to her face, pulling her chin towards him with two fingers. "Look at me."

Begrudgingly, her eyes followed her chin and she locked eyes with her boyfriend.

"Now I want you to listen to me, okay?" John asked her, taking her hands in his. "You didn't do this, Danielle. Your mother did. It was your father's decision to leave and in your heart, you know that he did it because he loved you and wanted this insanity to stop. Unfortunately, your mother put this case above their marriage and she has no one to blame but herself… especially not you. We're going to pull through this, we always do. In fact, I called Vince last night and told him to be prepared. He already has his team of lawyers working on it."

"He does?" she looked at him hopefully.

"He does," John nodded. "And you know we're going to be absolutely fine."

"I'm just afraid that if and when I have to visit a psychologist, they're going to tell me I'm crazy."

"Don't be ridiculous," he waved her off and stood back up, pulling her by her hand with him. "You're a college graduate who has got more brains that any person I know and although that isn't saying much, I have met a few intelligent people in my lifetime."

"You're such an idiot sometimes," she couldn't help but laugh and reached up to wipe away her tears. "But I love you."

"Isn't that why you love me?"

"Yeah. Yeah it is," she continued to chuckle as the tears began to dry.

"Come 'ere," he pulled her into his strong, bare chest and wrapped his arms around her affectionately. "No matter what happens, whatever tomorrow brings, I'm always going to be here for you because I love you. I won't lose you… not now. Not ever."

**A/N: So I know this is kind of short, but I had to post on this story and keep you updated.**

**I appreciate: Inday, goddessofthenite, Sammy91, Ryliegirl, and miniature-hero.**

**Review, everyone!**

**Danielle**


	18. Chapter 18

"Ms. Landon, are you listening?"

The blonde-haired woman nodded intently as her attorney droned on and on and on, "I'm listening, George."

"Good," the balding man sighed. "Because you need to pay attention. There's a lot on the line…"

Danielle ground her teeth together, locking her jaw tightly.

Thankfully, Vince took notice of this, "I believe she understands what's on the line here, George. Get on with it."

She exhaled deeply and turned her head towards Vince, mouthing silently, "Thank you."

The eldest McMahon bowed his head for a brief moment and turned his attention back to the panel of attorneys in the room.

Danielle couldn't help but sigh and look at the empty chair beside her.

At least someone was there for her today.

The blonde stormed through the door of the hotel room and slammed it shut behind her, causing the walls of the room to reverberate in its wake, "Care to tell me where the hell you were today?"

With her hands on her hips, she stared at the bed where John was slowly shifting around in only a pair of dark blue boxers, "What?"

"I asked you where the hell you were today?" she yelled at him, advancing towards the bed. "I had an advisory meeting with my attorneys this afternoon and you were supposed to be there, seeing as you are going to be called to testify!"

The muscular twenty-nine year old turned over and rubbed his hands over his face, "I thought it'd be better if you sat in on this meeting by yourself. I didn't want them to hold back just because I was there."

"How kind of you," she spat at him. "I'm fighting for my career and for us… the least you could have done was been there."

"I told you, Danielle," he sleepily rose to a seated position, "I thought it was for the best. I was wrong, okay? I'll go next time."

"John, when's the next time we're going to be in Connecticut?" Danielle tapped her foot impatiently on the dark red carpet, lingering over the bed.

"Um… I don't know. When?"

"December," she stated bitterly, staring him down. "Today's August 20, 2006. Do you know when the hearing is?"

John sighed and rolled his neck around on his shoulders, "Maybe…"

Danielle snarled at him, "October 7, 2006… and despite the amount of concussions you've sustained in your life, even YOU know that October comes before December. So basically, John… you just fucked us over. Royally."

"Alright, listen," he stood up from the bed and walked over to his business-suit clad girlfriend, "I'm going to call Vince and get the number for the law firm. Then, I'm going to call up the office and beg them for an appointment. I will miss next week's RAW if I have to wait until then to get an appointment, okay?"

She bit down on her lip and then raked a hand through her hair, "John, I know you're trying… it's just hard for me here. I don't have anyone else anymore, I only have you."

"I know," John nodded and rubbed his hands along her upper arms, "And I suck for what I did today. I should have been there. I just don't want to screw this up for you, Danielle. I don't want to be the one who shoots it all to hell."

"Listen to me, okay? I took classes in college, I've sat in on civil trials. I know how this is supposed to go. They're going to prepare you…"

He tried to search for a few words before continuing, "I'm a wrestler, Danielle. I'm not a lawyer, I'm not an intellectual. I'm not the type of person who is going to be able to go up there and know exactly what to say."

"You're not supposed to," she assured him. "You're supposed to go up there and tell the truth. And the truth is that I love you very much… and I think that you love me too. Nothing else matters."

"You think that I love you?" he pulled back from her slightly. "You should damn well _know_ that I love you."

"I love you too," she smiled at him weakly. "I just hope that the judge understands that."

John took her hands in his, "It doesn't matter what he says. No matter what, I will find a way to be with you, whether your mother likes it or not. You are twenty-three years old and entirely lucid. Not even Maria would be dumb enough to not take notice of that."

"Sometimes I wish Maria was the judge," Danielle finally managed to laugh. "I don't care if she was biased, at least I'd go in there knowing what would happen."

"Part of me wants to tell you that I know everything is going to be okay, but I don't know that. All I can tell you is that I'm going to be there for you every step of the way, we all are… and I'm not going to let some disillusioned woman take you away from me. Not now, not ever."

* * *

As the phone vibrated off of the nightstand, Danielle caught it quickly, not wanting it to wake up her slumbering boyfriend.

Miraculously, her council had agreed to meet him for a late-night session and he'd just passed out upon his return to the room an hour ago.

Unfortunately, she had failed to check the caller ID on her cell.

"Hello?" she whispered into the phone.

"I can't believe you're really going to go through with this."

She froze upon hearing the words on the other end of the phone. Soon though, the anger in her veins boiled over.

"I should say the same to you," Danielle shot back icily, still in a hushed tone.

"Why are you whispering?" the voice asked.

"Because John is asleep. He was with my attorneys until late this evening, preparing for the hearing in a few months. You know John, of course. He's the one you're trying to rip me away from, right, _Mother_?" she asked her, the last word laced with pure disdain.

"Danielle, you can end this rather easily," Susan sighed into her daughter's ear.

The younger Landon shook her head, "How? By leaving John? By leaving the WWE? Or both? Oh… or better yet, convincing your husband to come back to you?"

"Now, Danielle, that's not fair…"

"You want to talk about fair, Mom? Is having to run off to Boston to attend college so that you can train to do what you've dreamed about since you were seven years old fair? Or how about having to hide it from everyone you care about because you're afraid that your mother wouldn't approve?" she continued on, tears beginning to sting at her eyes. "Better yet, how about having to be the child that's the success story because no one before or after you will ever have the chance to be something great, even though you _know _that it's not the life you were destined to have?"

"I _never_ pressured you to be my success story!" Susan replied defensively.

"You lived vicariously through me, _Mother_!" Danielle marveled at the older woman's denial. "Every gymnastics class, every dance meet… every single test grade that ever came back. That was you trying to make up for where you had failed, for where Michael had failed, and for where Samantha could never be. THAT was what _you_ did to _me_ for all of those years because it was what you wanted. Did you ever stop to think for just _two seconds_ what _I _wanted?"

"You think that _this_ is what I want?" her mother asked her. "You think I want to be at that hearing in October?"

You're the one that's trying to have me declared mentally unstable so that you can gain control over EVERYTHING I HAVE!"

"Only because you can't control your own life, Danielle. You left me no choice!" Susan retorted loudly.

"And now you leave me no choice," Danielle shook her head and wiped away at her tears. "If you go through with this, that's it. It's the end of the line… you will never see me again, you will never see my father again, you will never be welcome in my house. And down the road, when I'm married and have kids of my own, they will never EVER know who you are. You'll be a stranger to them… just like you are to me now."

Her blood still boiling over in her veins, Danielle's finger slid over the red button and ended the call.

Tears still streaming down her cheeks, she got back into bed and snuggled up next to the warm, muscular body that belonged to her boyfriend, the love of her life, the man she was ready to give everything up to be with.

She slid a slightly unsteady hand up and around his torso, struggling to make it all the way around.

Gently, she rested her head against his bare back, dampening it slightly with her tears.

"I just want you to know," Danielle began, her voice shaking as she spoke, "That if I had to go back and do it all again… I wouldn't give you up for the world."

* * *

Trials often took anywhere from one to four years to get underway.

Usually, a criminal was indicted on charges and had a bail hearing. That hearing was followed by a series of meetings between the charged and his or her council. After that, the actual trial would occur.

Sometimes, it'd drag on for another year.

Sometimes, it'd be over in a matter of months.

The verdict was delivered in a matter of days and a new sentencing hearing would take place if the accused was found guilty.

Even after that, it could take years through the appeals system and often, by the time all was said and done, the verdict was overturned and the individual was given time served and let out of prison.

Fascinated with both the judicial system and political system of the United States, Danielle had taken courses on both topics all throughout college. She was familiar with the criminal system, as well as the civil system.

And that was good because as of now, she was fighting the civil system for everything… her career, her boyfriend, control over her own life. Just about anything she could.

Why?

Well, that was a question that only her mother, Susan, could answer.

The Susan that Danielle had recently come to discover was not the same woman who had raised her, the woman who told her to follow her dreams no matter what anyone else said.

Apparently, "anyone else" didn't include her.

And it didn't help that she was supposed to be the success story of the family either.

Night after night, Danielle would lie awake in bed in hotel rooms, contemplating the whole situation. Washington DC, Birmingham, Beaumont, Memphis, Omaha, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and London hotel rooms were no longer used for rest, but for stress and worry.

Even in another country, the problems followed her.

They were her very own plague.

Everything spun in the web led directly back to the spider herself, Susan Landon.

What could she possibly define success as?

To Danielle, she wanted to wrestle… do what she loved. It was the whole reason she had gone to Boston in the first place. Even if she never made it big, she'd at least have plenty of places to perform on a nightly basis.

In another month, she'd have to perform in somewhere other than a ring. In another month, she'd have to perform in a courtroom.

No "Rebel," no Danielle Landon, World Wrestling Entertainment Diva, no Danielle Landon, number one contender for the Women's Title.

Only Danielle Landon, the scared twenty three year old who was about to engage in the fight of her life.

* * *

**A/N: I know, I know. It's been a really, really long time.**

**But this story was my first story that I ever posted here on this site. Since then, I've grown into a much better writer… as is evident when you look from the first chapter of PIC to this one.**

**In no way am I abandoning this story, instead, I am merely informing you that updates will probably not occur as often as they do with my other stories.**

**When I first started writing this, I was a junior in high school. Now, I'm three months away from graduating altogether.**

**By the end of this year, this story will definitely be finished.**

**I think the only thing that really stopped this train from rolling was the fact that I came up with the idea for She's a Rebel… and that evolved into this entirely new chapter of my writing. Since then, She's a Rebel II: Unravel, More Than Words, and Only One have come along, pushing this one further to the backburner. In fact, She's a Rebel III is right around the corner and that entire series is my baby, like RAW is Vince McMahon's baby.**

**So in summation, updates for this might come few and far between… but they will keep coming because you've all been so loyal to me.**

**So without further adieu, shoutouts:**

**Sideways anger, ChainGangShorty54, goddessofthenite, cassymae, and miniature-hero.**

**Thank you for reading and reviewing… please continue to do so.**

**And that goes for everyone!**

**Hope you enjoy!**

**Danielle**


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